The Lost Shinobi
by SenorCheesecake
Summary: A ninja, one which has vowed time and again to never give up and to never quit, suddenly finds himself lost in an unfamiliar forest. He is met with a strange creature: a wolf with bone-like armor. But not only that, he realizes that he has no idea where he is. And he has no idea how far from home he really is.
1. Chapter 1: Forest Despair

A bony mask. Glowing, hateful, red eyes. Fur, black as night, and just as menacing. A shape like a wolf but larger, much larger. Naruto held his kunai with trepidation. He'd never heard of anything like this. It seemed like some kind of Tailed Beast, but he knew the One-Tail wasn't a wolf, and it certainly wasn't this animalistic. But he couldn't think of any other explanation. So he exercised caution. He had drawn a kunai, ready to strike, when the pits of red that it called eyes shot over to stare at him. That settled it, in his mind. No mere animal could detect a ninja, and certainly not a ninja like him. Therefore, this was more.

The world seemed to slow, as Naruto took in every minute detail of the beast before him. He noted the teeth, the claws. Natural weapons, certainly potential threats. He debated creating a clone or two to get an idea of how this thing would fight. But he also didn't want to spend the second it would take to make the signs in order to use the jutsu.

That left two, not necessarily plausible paths. He would have to kill this thing in one go or be evasive enough to learn how it fought. He readied himself to throw his kunai, hoping it would be enough to cleave through the creature's skull or neck. As if on cue, the breeze died, just as the wolf-like beast lowered into a pounce. Naruto brought his arm into an upward arc, aiming the kunai for the beast's neck. He released it, and the kunai flew true, plunging itself deep into the creature's neck.

It howled in pain, and Naruto realized: this was just a beast. All at once, his tension left him, as he realized that after being potentially fatally wounded, no doubt it would flee. But to his shock, it didn't. Instead, it lowered back into the pounce, and lunged at him. His second realization was that this thing was only about as fast as a beast. He sidestepped it easily. With these things in mind, he didn't want to kill it. Likely, he had just encroached on its territory, he thought. If he left, it probably wouldn't give chase. Either way, it would have to bleed out soon from the kunai wound.

But then he reached his third realization: the wolf wasn't bleeding. Despite the kunai being lodged in its neck, it showed no signs of being wounded, not even a drop of blood. Something in his mind flipped, like a switch, and he got ready to fight this beast in earnest. Naruto wasn't sure why, but he was sure that this thing wouldn't give up. He drew two more kunai, getting ready to counter its next pounce. When that pounce came, he ducked underneath of it, and just managed to slit the creature's throat in both direction.

It landed in a heap, and summarily dissolved, something that he recoiled at. But before he could question it further, his senses picked something else up. The sounds of more beasts, more of these things probably, coming to aid their packmate. So it was just a beast, he thought. Which meant that there was no need, nor any incentive, for fighting these things. The only thing at stake was his life.

Not to mention, he knew for certain that he wasn't where he should have been. He should be in the forest around the Leaf Village, but he couldn't be. Those woods didn't have wildlife like this. And this forest felt oppressive, dark, deadly. Long story short, he was in the wrong place.

And so these things couldn't be his priority. He had to get back home. He was told that it was in danger. That the Akatsuki were attacking. That Pain was attacking. He had cut his Sage Mode training short in order to get back right then and there. Of all the times for an attack to happen…

Wherever he was, he had no time to deal with a pack of these things. It wouldn't be hard to avoid them anyway. He scaled a tree, a high tree. From the top, he thought, he would be able to see for miles. If he was anywhere near the village, he'd see it from there. Climbing the tree was easy for him. Maybe climbing isn't quite the right word for leaping up from branch to branch, but regardless he reached the top in no time. As he went, he could hear the wolves circling the tree beneath him, obviously searching for their prey.

As he landed on the highest branch that would support his weight, he grabbed onto the trunk, using it and his chakra to balance himself. He was above the trees from here, and his view was extensive. But still, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find the village on the horizon. Not only that, but he couldn't see the Toad Mountain anywhere nearby either. He scratched his head, his brow furrowed, as he scanned the landscape one more time.

It wasn't just that the village and the mountain were missing, he didn't recognize where he was at all. He was confident it was in the Land of Fire, he didn't know of anywhere else with a forest this large. The trees went out for miles and miles.

The obvious explanation was that whatever that pond of the toads' was, it hadn't worked how it should have. But if he was in the Land of Fire, then he should be able to find something he could identify in the distance, right? As quickly as the hope came into his mind, it faded. Navigating wasn't exactly his forte. Ok, so, finding his way out of this forest blindly wouldn't work. But what else was there? The village was in danger; Naruto didn't have time to worry about where he was. No, he would have to pick a direction and hope.

But an hour spent hopping tree to tree drained that hope fast. Not once did he spot civilization, not even just an inn along the road. All he could find was more of those strange black beasts. They seemed to be everywhere. But it wasn't just the wolf-like ones. He spotted some that looked like great bears, too, and he could have sworn that he saw one flying off in the distance. But he shook that one off, since it would have had to have been huge if he had seen it. Or just a lot closer than he thought.

Nevertheless, Naruto continued. At some point, he figured, he'd either find a building, or a town, or even just the coast. It didn't take long for a glint to catch his eye. It was distant, so far off that he could've easily missed it, but for his desperate scanning of the horizon. With the sun setting, he managed to spot the reflection of the sunlight off of what had to be glass, or a mirror, or water, or something that could guide him home.

He sped towards it, barely noticing that as he got closer, the forest around him thinned. But he did notice, certainly, when the buildings came into view. It was some sort of village, built vertically. Huge buildings, stretching into the sky, built from concrete. But they were broken, desolate even. The roads were cracked and uneven. And everything felt… dead. But more than that, it felt as though he wasn't welcome, like his presence was offensive to the village itself.

He noticed, quickly, that there were some of those wolf things here, too. Evidently, they had moved in after the people abandoned it. But he couldn't tell why the people would have left. It didn't look like this was a ninja village, so it probably wasn't attacked by enemy ninja. And it looked like a lot of people lived here. So it would have been hard to move the entire town.

As he mulled these thoughts over, Naruto failed to notice the wolf-like creature creeping up behind him. That is, until it barked as it leapt at him. Only his reflexes saved him, as he dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding the beast's near-sneak attack. He whipped out a kunai, hurling it at the animal. Once again, the attack hit its mark, but the beast didn't back down. On the contrary, it instead immediately swiped at him, missing its mark, but only narrowly. Unused to fighting animals and against their instincts, Naruto elected to fall back on what worked before. Drawing another kunai, he lowered his stance, ready to duck if it pounced again.

However, it instead slashed at him again, an attack that even if he didn't counter, he was still ready for. He blocked it with his free arm, noting that the beast had little strength, and stabbed upwards through its head. It fell limp, and began to dissolve into mist. Once again, he recoiled as it happened. He'd already determined that this wasn't like a normal animal. But even still, he didn't know of anything that simply dissolved or vanished when killed, besides summons.

And as he thought that, an idea smacked him in the face. He felt unbelievably stupid for not thinking of it sooner: the summoning jutsu! Shaking his head at his completely stupidity, he bit into his thumb, made the sign, slammed his thumb onto the ground, and yelled, "SUMMONING JUTSU!"

A second passed, then two, and then three. Nothing happened. Not a poof of smoke, not any markings on the ground, and worst of all, no toad of any kind appeared. Naruto stared, dumbfounded, at the spot where his thumb rested, as if waiting for anything. After another second, he shook it off, telling himself that he just messed it up. He bit his thumb again, even though it still had blood on it, and repeated the process. But again, nothing.

As the moon reached its apex in the sky, and another wolf dissolved next to him, Naruto once again slammed his torn-apart thumb into the ground, and once again yelled out the same words, his voice hoarse. The ground beneath him had no marking on it besides the blood, and the tears. He fell onto his back, staring upwards, the pain in his thumb not even registering to him. His mouth was still moving, mouthing the same two words over and over again. His eyes closed, like they were moving on their own, his mouth still moving, still stuck on one simple idea that would never work.

* * *

 **Ho**

 **Ly**

 **FUCK.**

 **It has been quite a long time hasn't it? I promised, back a long time ago, that I would rewrite The Shinobi of Beacon. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that there were some glaring issues with that piece. Pacing was all over the place, the characters were all one-note, a lot of the scenes pre-chapter 18 were ripped directly from RWBY… And that's hardly scratching the surface. Naruto himself was everywhere power-wise.**

 **Basically, it was a number of issues with consistency and characterization. My hope is that, since that time, I have learned to write better than those olden days. You'll all have to let me know.**

 **As for all of my other stories, consider them dead. With the possible exception of Unprepared, I have no interest in continuing any of them, or in the case of Light, I lost all of my notes for the story, as well as 3 completed chapters. So, that story is cancelled until I feel less lazy.**

 **EDIT: After re-reading The Adopted Uchiha, I've decided that I'm going to continue it. I like the premise, and I feel like I've got a good starting point. Look forward to that as well.**


	2. Chapter 2: Questions, Answers, Questions

"Hey, wake up. Come on, there's Grimm nearby."

Naruto's eyes cracked open, as he squinted upwards. He expected to be near-blinded by the sun, but a silhouette was blocking most of the light. The silhouette was saying something, but he barely registered it. Groggily, he reached up to touch the shape, before he winced in pain as his thumb throbbed. With that throb, his memories of the previous day came flooding back to him. Seemingly forgetting about the silhouette, he rubbed his face with his hands, ignoring the pain in his thumb.

"Hey, get up!" the silhouette demanded. Naruto's eyes shot back open, as he stared upwards at what was now obviously a person. A person…

A PERSON!

Naruto shot up, colliding his head with the person in the process. He fell back to the ground, clutching his head, as he heard a thump that he assumed was the other person falling back. "Sorry…" he mumbled.

"Ow ow ow ow ow…" he heard a feminine voice mutter. "What is your head made of… And why the headband…?"

He took his hands away from his head, and stared at the girl whose face he had just head-butted. She looked young, but definitely several years older than him. At least half a dozen. She was dressed in what he could only describe as a tactical outfit. She was dressed in loose-fitting clothing, all black with a hood over her head and a sword on her side. She stared back at him, her eyebrow creeping further upwards the longer he stared.

"Sorry again… Who are you?" he asked.

"Darla. I'm a huntress Who are you? How come you're here?"

When she asked her second question, Naruto suddenly remembered about the attack on the Leaf Village, and how he was lost. Maybe she could help him? "Do you know how to get to the Hidden Leaf Village from here?!" he blurted out.

She cocked her head to the side, "The what? I've never heard of a village like that. But again, who are you and why are you out here?"

Naruto shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts. He opened his mouth to respond, but then her words registered with him. She hadn't heard of the Hidden Leaf Village? That could only mean that… well that he was far, far away from home. Everyone, even civilians, knew about the ninja villages back home. But this girl looked like a ninja, on a mission no less.

"I… I'm Naruto. I'm-" he began.

A shout from down the road cut him off, "Darla! The Grimm are coming! It's Ursai!"

Both Naruto and Darla shot their eyes down the street, to where a tall man, adorned in shining, golden armor was barreling towards them, brandishing what looked like a crossbow, but made of metal and without a string. Darla shot to her feet, and drew her sword.

"Volte? Where are Azura and Citras?" she shouted back. The man stopped just before them, and doubled over, breathing heavily.

"They… They didn't make it out of the Underground. There's a Bullhead on the way, but we've gotta go. But before that… who is this?" he asked, looking Naruto up and down.

Naruto opened his mouth to both answer and ask several question, but Darla cut him off, "He said his name is Naruto. We need to get him to safety before the Grimm get here. Can you take him to the extraction point?"

Volte nodded grimly, "Leave it to me." He turned to face Naruto. "Alright, kid, we're heading to the other side of town. There's gonna be a Bullhead there by the time we get there. Move!" He grabbed Naruto's arm and began to pull him off.

Naruto stood his ground, unmoving even as Volte pulled on him. "What are Grimm?" he asked, a serious demeanor coming over him. Volte stopped pulling after he asked, and both he and Darla stared blankly at Naruto.

"Wh- What do you mean? Darla asked, mouth slightly ajar. "They're the Grimm. You know? Ursa, in this case." Naruto shook his head. "You don't know?" Her brow furrowed. "Never mind, there's no time, just get out of here before they get here. Go Volte!"

Volte began to pull on Naruto's arm again, but the ninja wrenched it free of his grip. "I'm staying. I gonna help you fight them, whatever they are."

The pair stared at him, but not for very long. A roar drew the attention of all three of them, a roar that echoed down the street. Then, from a neighboring street, out came an enormous black bear with bone-like plates, just like the ones Naruto had seen yesterday. On reflex, Naruto drew his kunai. Darla raised a brow, wondering how this kid planned to kill an Ursa with weapons that didn't even look like that had any Dust on them. It wasn't like he'd be able to decapitate it with blades that small, so…

"Volte, take him out of here, now!" she shouted, as she charged down the street at the Ursa. She barely got three steps before she heard a voice in her head screaming at her to duck. A huntress doesn't live long without listening to her instincts, so she ducked. A kunai went flying a few inches to the side of where her head would have been. As it was, she could feel the wind peeling off of it. She watched as the knife sunk deep into the Ursa's chest. The Ursa roared in pain, but lowered itself to all fours and charged.

Continuing her charge, Darla leapt up just before she reached the Ursa, aiming for its back. What she hadn't anticipated was the Ursa clawing upwards at her while she was in the air. No time to ready her Aura, she blocked with her sword. The blade couldn't handle the force of the Ursa's claw, and it snapped in two. She landed on the Ursa's back, but her shock delayed her by a second. The Grimm reared back, and she fell to the ground. As she raised her arms to her defense, she barely registered Volte shouting and the sounds of more Grimm.

Naruto watched as Darla fell to the ground, but just as he screamed at himself to help her, he heard Volte right behind him, yelling, "There are more of them! They're behind us!" He turned, to see another half dozen of these 'Ursa' charging from behind them. But no sooner had he turned to face them then did he realize his mistake.

He whipped back around towards Darla, but his mistake cost him took much time. All he had time to see was the Ursa lift its claws back up off the ground, red dripping from it. He stared, his hand moving on its own into his pouch, pulling out a kunai. He didn't even think about it as he charged the monster, plunging his kunai deep into its neck, and then pressing it deeper still. He wanted to be sure that this thing fell.

He drew another kunai, and dragged it across the monster's neck. It cut deep, but the Ursa continued to roar as it clawed away at him. He barely felt its claws rending his flesh as he cut deeper and deeper with his kunai. Finally, he must have cut deep enough, because the bear stopped its movements dead, and he fell through it as it faded into black mist.

Then the pain set in, as he felt wounds all up his back. He fell to a knee, but he knew that Volte was in danger… Or maybe Volte met the same fate as Darla by now. He couldn't hear Volte shouting anymore, and that didn't bode well.

Naruto stood, braced himself, and turned. It was like he thought it might have been, but that didn't make it any less gruesome. Volte was missing his arm, his legs… and his head. But Naruto steeled his nerves, and he put his hands in a handsign that was so familiar, and he made 5 clones of himself. With those 5, it was 6 fights of one on one, and Naruto and his clones were merciless.

It was over quickly, and soon Naruto was left alone with two bodies of two strangers, and even more questions than before. This wasn't the first time that he had seen people die, and as a ninja, he knew it wouldn't be the last. Even if he felt responsible for their deaths, he needed to accept that fact. But he knew he never would. Which just left those questions.

Grimm? He could guess that those were all the black, bony beasts he'd battled. And the bear ones were Ursa, or Ursai for plural? And Darla had called herself a Huntress. Presumably, she hunted Grimm, given her now-shattered weapon wouldn't be very useful for hunting deer. And Volte had said something being on the way, a 'Bullhead.' Naruto assumed that since Volte was headed for it, it was a good thing. The other side of town, he had said.

Naruto gathered up what rubble he could, and placed it over the bodies of the two strangers who gave him few answers and many question, trying to give them a shamble of a burial. It seemed like if he didn't, no one would ever be able to. Whatever those 'Grimm' were, clearly they were hostile to humans, and clearly they were all over the place here. Maybe that was why it was abandoned.

The ninja gave what little prayer he could at the field graves, but he was certain that he wasn't doing the two of them justice, with how little he knew of them. He stepped away from the graves and headed off down the street, in the direction that Volte was dragging him.

* * *

Naruto was beyond surprised when the Bullhead arrived. He was expecting a squad of fighters or something like that, maybe a summon- though by how his attempts to use the Summoning Jutsu had gone, that seemed unlikely. Maybe he was just too far from the Toad Mountain, he thought.

But what he was never expecting was a flying, metal box. But, that's what he got. This 'Bullhead' landed in the middle of a plaza. Naruto was waiting at the edge of the plaza as it did, and watched as the sides opened up. Out stepped a man with green hair and what looked like a flask. Instantly, he noticed the bright, blond-haired ninja. The man was wearing shaded glasses, but even with those on, Naruto could tell that his expression was one of pain.

Naruto waited as he approached, and when the man spoke, it sounded practiced, "Did they fight well?" Naruto nodded. He continued, "Are the Grimm gone?" Naruto nodded again. "Good… I am Doctor Oobleck. Who are you?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki from the Hidden Leaf Village."

"The Hidden Leaf Village?" Oobleck's serious demeanor faltered for a moment. "Where is that?"

Naruto raised a brow, and answered, "The Land of Fire. Do you know where that is?"

"No, I've never heard of it. Do tell, where is it in relation to Vale? Which Kingdom is it in? Are there any training academies near it?" Oobleck was suddenly speaking a lot faster, almost rapid-fire. Naruto was taken aback by the shift.

It was all Naruto could do to respond with, "I- Vale? Kingdom? What do you mean?"

Oobleck frowned, "The Kingdom of Vale of course! Surely you know what that is?" Naruto shook his head, frowning. "Really now? Astonishing! Tell me then, what continent are you from?"

"I-" Naruto began. A howl, echoing down the road, interrupted him. Oobleck looked up from his intense staring.

"Grimm. Undoubtedly, they know we are here and are on their way. Grimm do not howl for any reason other than to call others to the hunt," Oobleck explained. "It would be a good idea for us to evacuate and…" He paused. "To return later."

Naruto looked away, but nodded. Oobleck returned to the Bullhead, and with some hesitance, Naruto followed. The inside felt cramped and uncomfortable, especially with Oobleck intently staring over him. Naruto wanted to ask the man his many questions, but the way Oobleck was studying him made him feel like he was trying to read his mind.

Eventually, Oobleck broke the silence by asking, "So tell me, what continent are you from?"

Naruto thought for a second. He wasn't sure if there was actually a name for it back home. The best answer he could think of was, "I'm from the Shinobi Villages. Do you know where they are? I need to get back to them as soon as I can."

To Naruto's dismay, Oobleck frowned. "I've never heard of anywhere like that. But that sounds like it may be from Anima."

Naruto repeated him, "Anima?"

"Yes, the landmass to the east of Sanus. It is home to the Kingdom of Mistral. Do you know the Kingdom of Mistral?" Naruto shook his head. Was he somehow on the other side of the world? Oobleck's mouth fell slightly open. "Do you know any of the Kingdoms? Atlas or Vacuo?" Again, Naruto shook his head. He had to be on the other side of the world, there could be no other explanation. "You haven't heard of any of the Kingdoms? Where do you live that you have never heard of them?"

"I told you, the Hidden Leaf Village in the Land of Fire. But those have gotta be really far from here if you've never heard of them," Naruto explained.

Oobleck nodded, "How big is the Land of Fire?"

Naruto was about to answer that it was as big as the other ninja lands, but if Oobleck hadn't heard of the Land of Fire… "It's one of the biggest nations back home."

Oobleck frowned severely, "That can't be right."

"Why not?"

"Because the only nations on Remnant are Vacuo, Vale, Atlas, and Mistral."

Remnant? But wait… The only nations? Maybe Remnant was just the name of this part of the world? But no… that didn't make sense… "Doctor Oobleck, what's east of Anima?"

Oobleck gave him a blank stare for several seconds, before slowly beginning to answer, "Why, the west side of Sanus of course. What else would it be?"

So the other side of the world was just this Anima place? Which meant that there was no space for the Land of Fire or any of their neighboring nations… But that could only mean…

* * *

 **So, Chapter 2 is done. This is the second and last setup chapter. From here on, I will endeavor to make chapters 3,000-4,500 words. That said, I feel like this one could have been done better. As in, characterization of Oobleck and Naruto. Matching their speech patterns and lines of thinking, specifically. Maybe I'm being too expectant of myself, but I don't think so.**

 **Now, before I respond to any reviews, let me establish this now: I will not be answering ANY questions about how the plot will progress ahead of time. I will only say this once. Now then.**

 **Anon: I'm glad to be restarting it, too. I'm looking forward to getting into the meat of the story.**

 **Guest: Thank you. I've actually put work into this one, unlike before, and I'm glad that reflects and I hope it will continue to.**

 **Rio Skyron: Thanks. I'm glad to be back.**

 **Guardian of the Inheritance: Thanks. I hope it continues to hold up in this chapter and future chapters.**

 **Avidreaded: Go ahead and be as hypercritical as you want. As for the rest of the review, well, I already said I wouldn't be spoiling anything.**

 **Jbone49: I appreciate that, thanks. I'll do my best.**

 **Agastya: I will do so.**

 **SlyUzumakiVii: You're welcome, and thanks.**

 **If I didn't respond to you, that's because I don't want to answer plot-related questions. I don't want to be spoiling this ahead of time. That said, please do keep reviewing. I'm very interested in getting feedback.**

 **Also, I have a poll up on my profile for which story I will pick up next. Go ahead and check that out.**

 **I think that's everything for now, so I'll see you all in Chapter 3. Adios.**


	3. Chapter 3: For the Future

Professor Ozpin turned off his Scroll, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Mountain Glenn was nothing more than a death trap, he knew that already. And yet he sent scouts out anyway to try and clear out some of the Grimm, only for them to die. He knew Oobleck would feel responsible for their deaths as well, which almost felt worse. The guilt of the survivors, he supposed.

But then Oobleck had mentioned the boy in the orange-and-black jumpsuit who said he was from a "Hidden Leaf Village". The name certainly didn't ring any bells, nor did the description of the boy. From how Oobleck described him, he didn't sound like a huntsman, but Oobleck had speculated that he had training. After all, how else would he have lived through a Grimm attack?

He stood, and stepped over to the window, leaning on his cane wearily. He could just see the Bullhead in the distance, with its lights blinking in the night. At least the boy hadn't perished, whoever he was.

One question danced at the edge of Ozpin's mind, however. What was this boy, who apparently knew nothing of geography or of the Kingdoms, doing at Mountain Glenn? Ozpin's first thought was that he was from a tribe out in the wilderness, but that didn't make much sense to him. He apparently wore a manufactured orange jumpsuit. He would have had to get that from a city. Or… Ozpin grimaced. Or he could have gotten it from a traveler, dead or alive.

Certainly, Ozpin thought, he would need to question this 'Naruto' once he arrived. Surely then he would get his answers. Surely.

The headmaster sighed and returned to his seat, pulling up his message from Glynda. As he read it, he quickly forgot about the boy, as his interest piqued.

"Downtown store robbery. Dust 'til Dawn. Girl taken into custody has Silver Eyes. Named Ruby Rose. Including a video of her fight with the robbers. Has a fascination with huntsmen and huntresses." After the message, sure enough, there was a video file.

Ozpin glanced out at the approaching Bullhead, then back to his Scroll. His finger hovered over the 'Play' button for the video for a few seconds. He took one more, final look out at the Bullhead, before decided to just watch the video.

He was impressed with what he saw. Ruby Rose, hm? Perhaps… Ozpin sent Glynda a reply, telling her to invite Ruby Rose to join the ranks of Beacon Academy. He informed her that he had urgent business at the school, and that he couldn't come to Vale himself.

He wondered why he wasn't going to meet the Silver Eyes himself. After all, it wasn't like this boy would be too terribly special, right?

* * *

Naruto was beginning to wonder where they were going. Oobleck had told him Beacon Academy, near Vale, but that answer meant almost nothing to him. He guessed they were places here on this world called Remnant, whatever or wherever Remnant was. His being here perplexed him. From what Doctor Oobleck had told him, it seemed like he was on some other world. But that couldn't be the case, right?

He mentally shook his head, criticizing the thought, even though he knew it had to be true. Wherever he was, he just needed to find a way home. As far as he knew, Pain was still attacking the village. Naruto had to be able to do something to help, he just had to. Or… well maybe Pain left the village alone once he saw that Naruto wasn't there. Yeah, that would make sense… So all Naruto had to do was get back to the village before Pain found him. Simple.

The sounds of the rotors on the Bullhead stopping drew Naruto out of his thoughts. Were they going down? He glanced at Oobleck, who was sitting still. No, Naruto thought, they weren't going down. So then, they had gotten to Beacon Academy finally? Naruto stood up, ready to disembark the Bullhead and have his feet on the ground. Oobleck followed suit.

Finally, the rotors stopped entirely, and the doors on the Bullhead opened. Naruto hopped out, letting out a sigh of relief. Oobleck stepped out after him and point up at a massive tower nearby.

"The headmaster, Professor Ozpin, would like to speak to you. If you'll please come with me." The Doctor sped off towards the tower, leaving Naruto staring as a dust cloud, blinking. "Come on Naruto!" Oobleck shouted from down the walkway.

Bewildered, Naruto followed him at a walking pace. There was something to be said about the grandeur of the Academy. The patterned walkway he was headed down as lined with stone arches and a man-made river on either side. There were trees and grass between the different walkways, and spread all around were impressively large buildings, each as big as the Hokage's mansion back home. Naruto was left to marvel at the sights as he and Doctor Oobleck continued on towards the utterly enormous tower at the end of the campus, which only seemed to grow bigger as they got closer.

Finally, they reached the base of the tower, and Naruto stared up at it. It reminded him, for some reason he couldn't puzzle out, of the Hokage mountain back home. Oobleck walked up to the doors, and invited Naruto in with him. Naruto followed him inside.

The inside was a grand entrance hall, easily bigger than Naruto's apartment building. The floor had a glossy sheen over it, as though it was made of glass. There was a receptionist desk in the middle of the room, but the chair was empty. And besides that, Oobleck walked past the desk, towards a metal door along the far wall. Naruto followed him. Oobleck pressed a button next to the doors, and the button lit up with a ding, as the doors slid open to reveal a small space. Naruto raised an eyebrow as Oobleck stepped inside.

"I thought we were going to talk to someone?" Naruto asked, entering the closet-like space. Oobleck frowned at him.

"We are: Professor Ozpin," he answered simply. Oobleck pressed another button inside the closet, and the doors slid closed again. As the closet jerked into motion, Naruto jumped a little, before realizing that the closet was moving. Oobleck frowned harder at him, "Have you never been on an elevator before?" Naruto just shook his head. "I-" Oobleck started, before closing his mouth and furrowing his brow. Naruto scratched the back of his head, staring at the numbers over the doors slowly going up. He realized that it must have been telling what floor they were on.

The ride up was silent and uncomfortable, Naruto shifting around on the balls of his feet for most of it, glancing sideways at Oobleck every so often. From the panel on the wall, there came a ding, and the doors slid back open. They opened to a wide space, with a desk at the far end of it and a man behind the desk, hands interlocked and staring at Naruto. From the windows behind him, Naruto could tell that they were incredibly high up, especially from how close to the clouds they were.

"So, you must be the Naruto I was told about," said the man that Naruto assumed was Ozpin. Naruto nodded his head, eyeing the headmaster from across the room. "Please, come and sit." He gestured to a seat across the desk from him. As Naruto made his way across the office, he heard the elevator behind him close. He glanced back and sure enough, the door had closed behind him, Oobleck leaving him alone with the headmaster.

Naruto faced forwards again, and sat down across from the headmaster, who was studying him in detail. "So, Professor Oobleck tells me that you were in Mountain Glenn?"

"Was that that village that I met him at?"

"It was. So I'm curious as to what a young man like you was doing so far outside of the Kingdoms…" Ozpin leaned forward, "Which you claim to have no knowledge of?" He narrowed his eyes at the blond ninja.

Naruto shook his head, "I'm from the Hidden Leaf Village."

"In the Land of Fire, yes? I've lived for a long time, Naruto, but I've never heard of anywhere like that. I-" Ozpin stopped as he noticed Naruto nodding.

"I think… I'm gonna sound crazy here, but I think this is a different world than where I'm from." Ozpin raised his brow, but whether in curiosity, shock, or disbelief, Naruto couldn't tell. "It's just that my village back home and the other ninja villages around it were really important and really big."

Ozpin held up his hand, and Naruto stopped. "So, you say that you are from another world? I'm skeptical, Naruto. I'm sure you can understand." Naruto nodded. "But nevertheless, if you are correct, then could you perhaps tell me how you arrived on our world?" Ozpin's tone betrayed the doubt in his mind.

"I don't know. I was trying to get back home so that I could help defend it… But that was a day ago. They…" Naruto choked up. "They might not have won," he finished. Ozpin frowned at him.

' _A boy this young, defending his village from… Grimm? Or perhaps…'_

"What was it that was attacking your village, Naruto?" he asked, leaning forward.

Naruto scowled, "A ninja named Pain. He… He killed my sensei and was after…" He paused, wondering if he should really divulge his identity as a jinchūriki. "He was after our village for some reason." He noticed Ozpin raise an eyebrow for just a second before hiding it.

"A single 'ninja' might have taken down your entire village? You said that your village was a village of 'ninja', yes? How could one man have bested what I assume must have been dozens of others?"

Naruto shook his head, wondering how the professor couldn't understand, "I think we had hundreds… But it doesn't matter. My sensei was the best ninja in our village, way better than any of our Anbu or Granny Hokage. If he couldn't beat Pain, then no one could… That's why I was training to use Sage Mode. We just started training in Frog Kata when we heard about the attack, but something had to have gone wrong while we were trying to get back."

Ozpin looked down, sighed, breathed back in, and looked back to Naruto. There was a lot that the boy ws saying that Ozpin needed explained further. Naruto kept saying that they were ninja, which presumably was just what they called their huntsmen. And if that was the case, then there just couldn't be a way for one huntsman to match hundreds. So… "Please, Naruto," he began. "Start from the beginning. What is Sage Mode? What are an Anbu and Granny Hokage? And most importantly, why is this one man more than a match for your entire village?"

"Pain was the leader of these guys called the Akatsuki," Naruto explained. "They were a bunch of really strong ninjas who kept attacking people and villages all over the place. I fought some of them and managed to kill one of them with a new jutsu. But my sensei, the Pervy Sage, went to go find their leader. Except that Pain was too strong and… But, after we got the news, I was told that I was gonna be training to use Sage Mode to get revenge on Pain.

"Sage Mode is this technique where you gather Nature Chakra and you mix it in with your other chakra in order to enhance your power. Or, uh… well, I don't really know exactly how it works, but while I used it I felt really strong, and I could sense other people's chakras too, at least people who were close to me." Naruto took in a breath, realizing that he had probably done a bad job of explaining.

Ozpin stared at him for several seconds, and Naruto found himself wanting to look away. Finally, Ozpin spoke again, "Naruto, I don't understand half of what you just told me. But from the sounds of it, there was a group of terrorists in your world who were comprised of strong fighters, and you and your village fought them. Along the way, their leader got the better of your teacher, at which point you began to train yourself to increase your aura and avenge your teacher?"

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. Ozpin nodded solemnly.

Behind Ozpin's sincere look, the gears were turning at a thousand miles an hour. If he assumed that by chakra, the boy meant Aura, then it sounded like he had discovered or been taught something that Ozpin had never even heard of, this 'Nature Chakra'. It sounded to be some kind of Aura that existed in the world, which this boy could pull into himself and apparently use to make himself 'really strong'. If all of that was true, then Ozpin couldn't let this slip by.

"Very well. Naruto, I can't offer you any help in trying to return to your world… At the moment. But I'd like to help you if I could. So, if you would simply remain close by, we could investigate this mystery and perhaps eventually return you home. So, I'd like to offer you a place here, at my school. You would have to be a student, of course, but perhaps this could benefit you. This is a combat school, after all," Ozpin offered. He cursed inwardly that Naruto didn't know of how reputable the academy was. If he did, the offer would be a dead certainty. All he could do was cross his fingers.

"Be… a student here?" Naruto repeated. He thought back to those two people at the town called Mountain Glenn. They must have been students too, he thought. If this was their school, then that meant that this place taught people to fight Grimm. If his own village couldn't be saved… Naruto nodded, looking up with a fire in his eyes. "I will! This school teaches people to fight those Grimm things, right? I'd like to help anyone I can until I can go back to my village."

Ozpin raised a brow at the sudden eagerness in Naruto's voice. Nevertheless, he had a spark of excitement of his own. This fascinating boy wouldn't be going anywhere, which meant that he would have plenty of time to possibly both see this Sage Mode, and also to maybe learn to use it himself.

Ozpin nodded, masking his pleasure, and answered, "Then I look forward to seeing you at initiation. In the meantime, let's have Professor Oobleck take you to temporary quarters.

* * *

"Wait… I can just come to Beacon?" asked Ruby, for what felt like the hundredth time. Glynda groaned inwardly. When she got back, she decided, Ozpin would be getting a piece of her mind.

"Yes, Ms. Rose, again, you have been specially invited to join the rank of Beacon Academy. Now, I really must hear your answer this time. I have business to attend to," she sighed out.

Ruby was practically bouncing in her seat, "Of course I'd like to come to Beacon! But wait, what if it's weird because I'm too young… What if I-"

"If you accept," Glynda interrupted, sliding a small packet to her, "Then look over the papers in here, sign them and get them signed by a guardian, and follow the directions in order to make in to your initiation day." Ruby nodded along with her as she spoke, even though her face fell a little at the mention of paperwork.

"Yes sir! Or, ma'am!" Ruby tore open the packet and began rifling through the papers feverishly.

"You are dismissed, Ms. Rose. Will your guardian be picking you up?" Glynda asked, slowly beginning to make her way out the door.

"My sister will be, I think. Of course she won't be here for a while but I guess that just gives me more time to get ready to go home and get ready for Beacon but of course I'm gonna need to-" Glynda stepped out of the room, breathing a sigh of relief as the young girl continued to ramble on.

' _Good word, that girl can talk. Ozpin, you had better have a fantastic reason for not being here yourself, or so help me…'_

She stopped by the receptionist desk to let them know that she was allowing Ruby Rose to leave, before she left herself. It was still very dark out, courtesy of the time of midnight. She glanced back into the building, catching a glimpse of red.

' _Still, Silver Eyes? It's been a long time since we've seen those. I wonder if she even knows what she'll be able to do.'_

* * *

 **So, sorry this took two weeks. First off, Christmas and New Years. I hope you all had lovely holidays. Mine were terrific. Started off with my second point. Which brings me to point two: Shortly after I posted the last chapter, I got into an accident and really tore my mouth up, both inside and out. It's healed quite nicely but needless to say it was incredibly annoying.**

 **But, mainly I spent the time writing and rewriting this chapter. This is the third time I've written it out, and honestly, I'm still not that happy with it. However, I'm content enough to put it up, partially because there's only a few things that I could see myself changing.**

 **Now, once again, before I respond to reviews, I'm going to say this again: I will not be answering questions about how this story will progress. With that once again out of the way, on to the reviews.**

 **SlyFox9: Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed this one as well. After all, it's longer.**

 **Earthly Entity: I know what the continent is called. However, in the series itself, it's never given a name. That is why Naruto doesn't give it one here, because I have to assume he doesn't know what it is called.**

 **geraldwhusted: That's an interesting notion, and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. But I'd have to see that written for myself. After all, there's no indication of that in the series, whether it's the manga or anime. But if you can find that, send me a link and I'll check for myself.**

 **Beta117: No, it isn't. They make a point of that in Volume 5, that you have to actively be using aura to protect yourself. I believe I sent you a PM about this point, so I won't go into it too much here.**

 **PaperbackAlloy: Sorry about that, hope you like the length of this one more.**

 **Morgoslos: Jesus this is gonna take a while.**

 **So, 1st: While yeah, RWBY early on was focused on the fight scenes and some world building, it was never going to survive like that, honestly. While I agree that Volumes 4 and 5 weren't great, and at times not even good, I think that Volume 6 has done an good job with its fight scenes, and while it was done in the clumsiest way possible, the explanation of the world was decent as well.**

 **2nd: As you can see, your next point is exactly what happened. Good guess, well done.**

 **3rd: Admittedly, yes, Naruto was a bit** _ **too**_ **slow in the fight. If I could change it now, I'd probably have written it to where he focused too much on helping with killing the 6 Ursai that ambushed them, accidentally leaving the girl to die. Although, I don't believe he just watched her die. He did try to help.**

 **4th: I won't be saying if Naruto will get a weapon, but I do have to agree that it seems odd how many people believe that a katana is a good sword. Western style swords are much more durable and effective in combat. The only place where Katanas win is in aesthetics, and even that's subjective. However, I do have to disagree about a katana not being available; after all, Blake has one.**

 **5th: I think Naruto not having ranged techniques was just lazy writing. Kishimoto has a habit of his characters not being good at certain skills. For example, when Jiraiya is fighting Pain, he mentions how he is ' no good at genjutsu' after the toads tell him that they should try to use one against Pain. Naruto shares the genjutsu weakness, and his only ranged technique is devastating to the area, so… That all said, he likely would almost never need a ranged technique on Remnant. I mean, the Rasengan is shown to do massive damage to both structures (Water Tower) and to other ninja (Kabuto). The Rasenshuriken killed a guy twice in one attack, and apparently has so many attacks even Kakashi couldn't follow it. So yeah, I don't really think he needs a ranged technique on Remnant. But we'll see.**

 **6th: Honestly, the only OCs you'll probably see in this story will probably just be stand-ins, like in the last chapter, where something needs to occur with characters that I can't use actual characters for.**

 **7th: Yeah, the vote has come through and people want me to not focus on anything else. So, looks like I'll be writing just for this story for the time being.**

 **Whew, that was a doozy. Glad you enjoyed the story so far.**

 **Nexxoz Highdraco: Most of what you remarked on was intentional, besides Naruto acting, in my opinion, a lot different from his actual character. Hopefully this is something that I can remedy quickly. Otherwise, I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapters so far.**

 **JapaneseOptics: I'm glad you enjoyed so far. Hopefully you will continue to.**

 **avidreaded: I'm glad you also liked it. That was the atmosphere I was sort of trying to get. Small peak behind the curtain here, but the idea up to now is that Naruto was fronted with an entire world, but in this chapter was instead the one fronting someone with an entire world.**

 **Guest: I still think that they are, in fact, whiskers. For one thing, the way they react when he channels the Nine Tails chakra? They grow thicker. Additionally, his kids have them, and I can't see mere marks being hereditary.**

 **Guardian of the Inheritance: Glad you enjoyed it. I look forward to seeing you on further chapters.**

 **SlyUzumakiVii: I'm glad you do!**

 **eniox27: Yes, indeed. Although, as I mentioned before, I likely would have written that scene a bit differently if I wrote it again now.**

 **Now, a lot of people asked about Naruto X Blake. I will neither be confirming nor denying this. I am, however, saying that it could be a possibility. It all depends on how the story progresses. Understand, part of the reason that I won't answer questions about where this story is going is because I don't actually have a plan set in stone. That's how you get movies like Batman VS Superman. They went in knowing what they wanted to happen, and didn't bend on that concept for anything. No matter what the characters would actually do in those circumstances, they just went ahead and played out what the writers and director needed for the fight to happen.**

 **Sorry, bit of a tangent, but you see my point. I have a general idea of how I want the story to progress, and ideas for events down the line, but nothing more. Besides one big thing, but you'll see that eventually.**

 **Anyway, tangent over, chapter over. See you all next time.**


	4. Chapter 4: A World Called Remnant

"Ah, here we are! This will be where you will be staying, at least until the rest of the students arrive. Should you need anything at all, let me know, Naruto." Oobleck left Naruto in front of a rather plain, wooden door. Naruto watched as the doctor sped off down the hallway, then back to the door.

The room beyond was rather plain, although it was certainly much more livable than his apartment back home. The view was nothing to sneeze at either. Off in the distance, Naruto could see the twinkling lights of a huge city, and the way the light danced on the waters near it. It sure was a picturesque sight… But it also reminded him of home. Which was odd, considering that home didn't have that many lights or any oceans to speak of.

He took his headband off, and stared at it, running his finger over the emblem. He had made his decision, hadn't he? To stay here and take Ozpin's help. So why did it feel so wrong to wait for Ozpin to find a way to send him home?

Even as Naruto thought it, he realized it was a dumb question. He was waiting. He should be trying to get back himself, shouldn't he? He nodded to himself, eyes steeling with resolve as he tied the headband back around his head. The next question: Where to start? Well… He had been in Sage Mode waiting to be reverse-summoned to Konoha, right? So maybe Sage Mode might help somehow.

Naruto shook his head, chiding himself for thinking something so childish. How would Sage Mode help him cross worlds? But there was a nagging though it his head- How had he crossed worlds to begin with? As he mulled over that mystery, the sun began to shine its brilliant light over the water, washing the far off city in a morning glow.

It was a while before Naruto even noticed that the sun had come up, and he realized that the trip here, and the talk with Ozpin afterwards, must have been longer than he expected. A day had gone by since those Grimm had killed those people- Since he had failed to protect those people. ' _Not next time... Next time I'll win without anyone dying,'_ he thought.

He felt his eyes getting heavy, as the burden of staying awake and active for an entire day caught up with him. He decided to wonder over the whys of his being here later. Right now, it was time to sleep. It was only his third day in this world… And yet he had accepted being a student at a strange school in a strange land that would teach him to fight strange monsters. Yeah, definitely time to rest his brain.

With moments of his laying down, he was out like a light.

Through the security cameras of the school, Ozpin had kept an eye on the young ninja since he had left Ozpin's office. There was something decidedly off about him, besides the obvious 'from a different world' idea. Even still Ozpin was skeptical. He'd have to look into this 'Land of Fire' that Naruto mentioned. Maybe something would turn up somewhere, some old book about different regions of the world. But frankly, he didn't have much hope.

But no, that wasn't what made the boy seem different. It was the way he carried himself, the confidence with which he accepted Ozpin's offer. Any normal person, after coming face-to-face with the Grimm, would be at least a little hesitant, even if they knew of Beacon's reputation. But Naruto, with no idea who Ozpin was or what Beacon meant to most who heard the name, even after fighting the Grimm and seeing their brutality, accepting with such little hesitation, going as far as to say that he wanted to fight the Grimm again.

Maybe it was just a kind of heroism that Ozpin didn't have the pleasure of seeing very often. If only there were more like Naruto, more people who just wanted to help… Maybe then, humanity would be closer to peace.

Ozpin sighed, leaning back in his chair as he watched Naruto enter his new living quarters. The headmaster knew he was a long way off from that ultimate, tantalizing goal. One day, maybe. But… Naruto did certainly ignite a small spark of hope. Or rather, it reminded Ozpin that there were many people now who wanted to dedicate themselves to helping save others.

His scrolls went off on his desk, lighting up with a message from Glynda. He sat back up and opened the message, relieved that the silver-eyed girl had also accepted his extended offer of joining the ranks of Beacon Academy. Although, that one seemed much easier than Naruto. But from the sounds of it, Glynda was not too pleased with being the one who had had to speak with, from what Ozpin was reading, a very hyperactive girl.

He mused to himself about trying to find a way to get both the silver-eyed girl and the boy from 'another world' onto the same team. Certainly, it would be a good way to test this supposed 'Sage Mode' against a power Ozpin knew to be fearsome. At least, when used against the Grimm. But the more he thought about it, the more he thought that it would be better to place them on separate teams. It wouldn't do to have all of his eggs in one basket. Especially when he didn't even know how strong Naruto's supposed 'Sage Mode' was.

However, he realized, in the week before the school year began, he would have to bring Naruto up to date on anything he might need to know as a student at Beacon, like the Kingdoms and the Grimm. Well, lucky for Ozpin then that he had many capable teachers in his employment. He could have Oobleck teach Naruto a short history of the world, and have Port teach him about different kinds of Grimm.

A slight smirk came to Ozpin's face. Perhaps he didn't know how strong this 'Sage Mode' was, and perhaps Naruto wasn't from some other world full of ninja, but if Sage Mode was a weapon that Ozpin could use, then it would be all the better to know… Regardless of how effective it would be against Her.

* * *

"Naruto, please, this is important information! Why, knowing this would prove to be the very backbone of your understanding of society!" Oobleck cried. Naruto lifted his head off of the desk, resting his head in his palm.

"But I know what they're all called already, Doctor Oobleck. So-" Naruto complained.

Oobleck cut him off, "And knowing them is only half of the battle, Naruto! You must also understand how each has come to be, how they are ruled, and all manner of other details that will help you to understand them!"

"But won't you teach me that during the year anyway?" Naruto asked. "So how come I have to learn it now?"

Oobleck frowned, "Naruto, this is information that you will likely need to know and understand before you can interact with others of this world. All of this is vital information."

"I don't get how knowing about the 'Shipping Embargo of Vacuo' is gonna help me talk to people though."

"That is because you do not understand the impacts of it! Why, Vacuo citizens likely still feel its effects to this very day!" Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. "Oh, very well. I will make up a test for you to make sure you at least know about Vale. But I expect you to pay extra close attention in my class!" Naruto nodded with fake eagerness. "Very well, dismissed!"

Naruto practically ran out of the classroom, eager to get outside after the dreadful four hour lecture he just sat through. With all sorts of names and events swirling around his brain, he started making his way across the campus towards his room.

It had been a weird six days since he had arrived on this world called Remnant. Or at least, different from his several days before coming to this world. After spending all of his time training to use Sage Mode and then training to use Frog Kata, it felt weird to just sit down and try to memorize a bunch of city names and different kinds of Grimm. And that wasn't even touching the personalities of his teachers here. Kakashi and Jiraiya were always a little odd, but at least they had seemed like they knew what he actually needed to know. Whenever he was being taught by Professor Port, it felt like most of the time he was there was just spent listening to stories of all of the Grimm Hunts he had gone on.

But most importantly, what was most unsettling about this world was that it sounded like its inhabitants were always fighting for their lives. When Oobleck had mention Mountain Glenn during his lectures, it caught Naruto's attention, and it was one of the few times that Naruto had paid attention. Back home, sure there were skirmishes between villages from time to time, but from what Naruto knew, the last Great Ninja War had been something like five years before he was born. In fact, he was fairly sure that the only big incident between villages since then was when the Sand attacked the Leaf.

Here, however, it seemed like the only safe places were inside the Kingdoms themselves. The Grimm, though they seemed very weak, apparently were just so numerous that they could overrun almost any fledgling civilization, be it cities or towns or little villages. If Naruto hadn't already known they were evil, certainly that was the one important thing the history of this world had taught him. In other words, his resolve to help fight the Grimm and save people in this world was only strengthened.

By the time he reached his room, it felt like he had just reaffirmed why he was staying here all over again. However, that only reminded him that he was sitting still while he could try to find some way home, which… Well, he hated to admit it, but he knew in his heart that he would be far, far too late by now. That wasn't going to stop him from hoping that Ozpin could find some way to get him home, of course, but the longer he stayed here, the more he found himself thinking that maybe people here needed his help more now than his home did several days ago.

Naruto flopped down on his bed, groaning. Who knew listening to a world's entire history could be so tiring? It was only the middle of the day but he felt as though he had run a mental marathon. At least, he though, he had nothing else to do today. Although, he was starting to feel a craving for ramen… Which was a problem. As far as he could find, there was no ramen in the cafeteria at the school, just noodles. Maybe in the city… He glanced over to Vale through his window. No, he had been told to stay on the campus. Hm… But what if he sent a shadow clone?

He shook his head at the idea, laughing to himself about using shadow clones just for ramen. Sweet, delicious, miso ramen. He glanced at Vale again. Maybe… Well, it couldn't hurt right? No, but the ramen would be cold by the time it got back to Beacon, so it wouldn't matter anyway.

Tomorrow the school year would begin. Or at least, the other students would arrive for initiation. Naruto wanted to know what this initiation was, but no one would tell him. All he could gather was that it was some kind of combat test. At least he could finally stretch out and fight again, he reasoned. But, that obviously would have to wait until tomorrow. Or, the day after, whenever initiation was.

He closed his eyes, thinking that he would just take a nap for a few hours and then find something to do later. Before he knew it, he was out like a light.

* * *

Naruto squinted, wondering if it was an airship he could see in the distance. It was just a tiny blip, but it looked like it was getting bigger. He had spent his entire morning and into the early afternoon walking and sitting around the entrance to the campus, the airfield at the cliff's edge, just waiting for students to arrive. All the professors had been busy getting the campus ready for the arrivals, so he didn't have any long lectures to sit through.

Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't bored. He wasn't allowed to really go anywhere on the campus besides his room, the cafeteria, and the classrooms, as well as, obviously, the grounds, so he couldn't really do anything besides eat. And he wasn't hungry, despite having only eaten in the early morning. So, waiting it was. Luckily for him, it seemed like that would soon be at an end. The spec in the distance was definitely an airship, and it was getting close now. And there were others close behind it.

Only a few minutes later, and an airship was docking. Naruto was stood a ways away from the ramp, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. Finally, the ramp lowered, and the doors opened, and students came pouring out. Naruto looked through the crowd, sort of amazed at the spectrum of colors flooding out of the airship as the other two airships docked.

As students passed by, a couple glanced at Naruto with raised brows, and a couple others whispered to someone they were walking with. He picked a quick snippet of one conversation, and he realized that it was a little weird that he was here before anyone else. It had never actually crossed his mind, but he guessed it was too late now.

He caught a glimpse of really, really bright yellow hair leaving an airship, about as bright yellow as his. It was some boy, who immediately darted over to a trashcan and bent over it. The next person out was a girl who also had rather bright yellow hair. _'Huh,'_ Naruto thought. _'Guess I won't be too out of place here.'_ He chuckled to himself. Next came a girl with black and red hair, and a color scheme to match.

One of the airships undocked and took off, away from the school. Naruto watched it for a moment before turning his attention back to the milling crowds. The two he saw with bright yellow hair had split up, and the girl with black hair was following the girl with yellow hair. At least, until the yellow-haired girl sped off with a number other people. Naruto winced as the black-haired girl fell onto a pile of cases next to a girl with white hair, before he rushed over to help Ms. Black Hair pick herself and the cases up.

As he got closer, he heard the white-haired girl shouting, "-From the Schnee quarry!" The girl with black hair hesitated, as one often might when getting yelled at. "What are you, brain dead?!" Naruto scowled. Hadn't the black haired girl just made a mistake? Maybe not even that far, she basically just tripped. It seemed to him like Ms. White Hair was overreacting, and almost bullying the poor girl.

"Hey!" he yelled at her. Both of the girls turned in surprise at him. "Leave her alone! She just tripped."

The girl with white hair crossed her arms, "Well… She should have been more careful!" She looked away haughtily, nose pointed up. Behind her, two men in suits were picking up the cases left on the ground and wheeling them away.

"Are you ok?" Naruto asked the black haired girl. She nodded, clearly relieved to not be getting yelled at anymore.

"Excuse me, but I believe I'm still owed an apology?" Ms. White Hair demanded.

Naruto ignored her, speaking instead to the clumsy perpetrator, "C'mon, let's go, uh…" Naruto trailed off, hoping she would give him her name.

"I'm Ruby, nice to meet you!" she gladly announced, extending a hand. She had apparently picked up on what Naruto was trying to do, because the girl with white hair looked like she was about to explode. Naruto took Ruby's hand and shook it, before pulling her along with him. "Woah!" she exclaimed, moving with him. He took a quick glance at the white-haired girl, and was just a little pleased to see her fuming. He let go of Ruby's hand, but kept walking with her.

"So, uh… Thanks," Ruby said. "I don't think you told me your name." She glanced sideways at him.

He grinned, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you, too."

"Ruby Rose," she returned. "That girl sure was in a bad mood, huh?" Naruto chuckled. "I mean what was her problem?! I just got dizzy and fell over… Not my fault her stuff was in the way."

Naruto shrugged, "She seemed like a bully. They're always just looking to pick on people."

"Yeah, I guess," Ruby conceded. There was a silence for a few seconds, before Ruby spoke up again. "So, uh…" She was looking Naruto all over. "You don't look like you have any weapons on you."

He shook his head, "I left my pouch back at my room."

Ruby frowned, "Wait so we do have rooms? I was wondering before."

"Oh, uh… Well I don't know if everyone does. But I, uh… Well, I was sorta allowed to stay here for a few days, so I was given a room to stay in," Naruto answered, rubbing the back of his head.

"You've been here for a few days? Ruby asked, curiosity dripping from her tone. Naruto nodded. "Oh, that's so cool! I've been wanted to come here for years and then the other day I stopped a robbery but then I got taken in by police well actually it was a huntress but then she offered me a chance to come here and it was so cool!" Naruto blinked. And then he blinked again. He had barely followed anything Ruby just said, but it sounded like excitement.

"Uh… Yeah!" he hoped that that was a good answer.

"So hey, where are we going anyway?" Ruby asked. Naruto pointed at a large domed building across the campus from them.

"Right over there. There's a speech or something that Professor Ozpin is gonna give."

"Ooh, let's go!" Ruby sped off, leaving Naruto to follow her off to the building with the domed roof.

* * *

 **Right, so, I'm glad I was able to get this one out quicker this time. Especially since I likely won't be able to work on this story as much, for a few months at least. Spring Classes have started, so those take priority. That's not to say that I'm going on Hiatus, just that updates will come a little slower than they otherwise would.**

 **This chapter was easier to write than the last one. It's the final part of the introduction, which means that next time we can get into the more interesting bits of the story. That said, I still very nearly rewrote the entire thing.**

 **Now onto reviews.**

 **zrodeathwing: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy it. And on the topic of pairings, refer to the notes at the very end of the last chapter.**

 **CAV2003: First off, thank you, I'm also glad that you enjoyed it. Secondly, I don't know how often it will be updated. Thirdly, I don't actually speak Spanish.**

 **aliestrikehero (And other people who were talking about Eastern vs Western Swords): I'm not gonna go into full sword nerd mode here, but my point basically boils down to: Eastern Style swords are awful combative tools compared to Western Style swords. For one thing, having only a single sharp edge means that there are fewer ways to attack with it.**

 **Now specifically to aliestrikehero: My main point was that there are Eastern Style Swords around Remnant, but yeah, you're right. And to you too, I say, refer to the notes at the very end of the last chapter about pairings.**

 **avidreaded: Thanks. I don't believe I implied any more than Glynda knowing about 'spooky death magic' right? Also, I'm pretty sure Volume 6 may have confirmed that Qrow knew about the silver eyes from his idol, the 'Grimm Reaper'. I have some opinions on this new character, but I'll keep them to myself.**

 **Guardian of the Inheritance: Thanks.**

 **Guest: Glad you enjoy the story so far.**

 **SlyUzumakiVii: I challenge you to compare a Western Style to an Eastern Style sword. The problem with Eastern Style swords is their sturdiness. That may sound odd, but the main point is that the blades are almost completely inflexible, making them very fragile.**

 **Tera12: Thanks.**

 **Guest: I don't think so. The Hidden Leaf Village looked about big enough to have maybe 2500 citizens in it. And even that's a bit of a stretch. So to say there over 1000 of them were ninja definitely doesn't seem right.**

 **Guest: Thanks. I'm always trying to better myself as a writer.**

 **PaperbackAlloy: Thanks.**


	5. Chapter 5: Hopeful Students

As soon as Naruto and Ruby arrived at the auditorium, Ruby had run back off to that yellow haired girl from earlier. Naruto chuckled, but looked around at who else was waiting around. He spotted the boy with blond hair, Ms. White Hair, and a few with even more outrageous hair colors, like a flaming red head of hair or one of a more muted orange. He settled for just heading over to Ruby and standing with her.

As he got closer, Ruby noticed him approaching and gestured him over. "Naruto, I want you to meet my _dear sister_ Yang, who abandoned me to fate earlier."

Yang gasped in mock indignation, "I would never!" She chuckled, then looked Naruto up and down. "So, Ruby tells me that you helped her out with a… Well we can't say that word with Ruby around, can we?" Ruby pouted, crossing her arms. "Thanks for that, Ruby can be…"

"Yang, zip it!" Ruby hissed. "Hmph!" Yang giggled.

"Well, she doesn't like me saying it, but Ruby's kinda a klutz," Yang whispered loudly, looking at her sister the entire time. Ruby narrowed her eyes at her. "So anyway, where ya from Naruto? I don't think I know you from Signal do I?"

Signal? Naruto tried to think, because the name rang a bell. Oh, yeah, that was one of those combat academies that Oobleck had tried to tell him about. "Nope, I didn't go to Signal. I'm from Mistral," he answered, giving the line Ozpin had told him to give people. He wasn't sure why it was necessary, but Ozpin was trying to get him home, so he figured that he might as well follow one simple direction.

"Ohhh that's cool I guess. So did you go to Sanctum or what?" Yang asked. Before Naruto had to make something up, there was a ringing sound through the auditorium. The trio looked up to the stage, where Professor Ozpin was stood just behind a microphone.

Ozpin gave a short speech about the search of knowledge, and then his assistant, Glynda Goodwitch if Naruto remembered correctly, stepped up, and informed the students that initiation would be tomorrow morning, and that tonight they would be sleeping in the ballroom. With that, she dismissed the students to flood across the grounds towards said ballroom A few students broke off to go collect belongings or look around, but most students all flocked to the same place.

Along the way, Yang nudged Naruto, "So… that was a weird speech, right?" Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, he seemed sort of off to me," Ruby chimed in. "Hey, wait, Naruto, didn't you say you had a room of your own?" Again, Naruto nodded and confirmed he did. "Then… think we can sneak off and not have to be with a whole bunch of people?"

"Yeah I guess, but I don't think we're supposed to. I mean, I don't even know if I'm still supposed to go to that room anyway," Naruto answered.

"But, uh, didn't you say you left some stuff there? Your weapon?" Ruby insisted.

Naruto noticed Yang roll her eyes and shake her head in amusement, "Of course that's why you wanna go to a boy's room. Trying to see his… weapon… Ok, that came out wrong." Naruto chuckled while Ruby looked at her sister in slight disgust.

"Ew, Yang!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

Naruto spoke up, "I guess we can go to get my stuff." Ruby cheered, drawing some attention to her before she shrank back down. "C'mon. You coming too, Yang?"

"Yeah I am. As if I'd leave my sweet, little sister all alone with a strange boy!" she joked. Ruby narrowed her eyes at her again. "Kidding! So where are we going?"

"Not too far from the ballroom. C'mon, I'll lead the way." The trio split off from the crowd, and started making their way to Naruto's temporary dorm room. They got there quickly enough, and Naruto dramatically opened the door to reveal the rather bland room, save for his weapons pouch on the bed.

Ruby looked around for several seconds before looking back to Naruto, "So… where is it?"

"Huh?"

"Your weapon! Is it in this pouch?" she asked, picking it up.

"Yeah, that's where I keep them," Naruto confirmed. She looked at him, then back to the pouch, and opened it up. She frowned once she did.

"It's just a bunch of little knives and shuriken. Where's the cool stuff?" She sounded rather disappointed.

"What? Those are just what I use. I don't need any swords or anything, anyway," Naruto defended.

Ruby pouted, "But you could have something really cool! Like… I dunno, maybe a flaming knife or a shock knife or something!"

"Those aren't even the kind of chakra that I'm good at using though!" Naruto reasoned to her. She cocked her head, confusedly.

"Chakra? What's that?" she asked. Yang looked just as confused as her sister did, while Naruto just stared at them.

What was Chakra? How did they not know that? It was… Uh… He racked his brain, trying to remember the textbook answer that Sakura had given way back when Kakashi was teaching them how to use their chakra. "It's, uh… Energy in your body that, uh… Mixes with your spirit?" Even as he said it, Naruto both knew it was wrong and that he sounded completely unconvincing. Yang and Ruby glanced back and forth before starting to laugh a bit, despite clearly trying not to. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing," Yang answered. "Just that I've never heard such a… well-thought-out answer before."

'Whatever… Let's just get to the ballroom already," Naruto sighed. As they left his room and started on their way back, Ruby stifled her laughter as best as she could, while Yang kept chuckling along the way back. "It wasn't _that_ funny," Naruto complained.

"Sorry, sorry, just… I can't get over the way you said it. 'It's, uh…' Oh, I'm sorry, it just was so unconfident."

"But really, Naruto, what did you mean by chakra? Did you mean Dust?" Ruby asked.

Naruto once again racked his brain, this time trying to remember what Dust was. He was sure that Oobleck had mentioned it… But he couldn't remember what it was. He cursed himself for not paying attention more during those insanely boring lectures. "Uh… No. Chakra is the energy you use in a jutsu, ya know?" Ruby stared, blinking.

"A jutsu? What do you mean?" she asked.

"A technique? Something like the Shadow Clone Jutsu? I think you call it, um…" He thought, trying his hardest to remember a brief conversation he and Oobleck had had. "Oh, yeah, I think you call it a Semblance or something."

"Oh, you mean Aura when you say Chakra then?" Ruby guessed.

Another term that vaguely rang a bell, probably something Oobleck had talked about while Naruto was dozing off. He shrugged, "I guess so, if that's what you call it." This was a little weird to Naruto. He wasn't sure why they called jutsus Semblances or Chakra Aura, but they seemed like they were the same things when Oobleck was talking about Semblances, so chances were Aura was probably just what they called their Chakra.

"Ooh, so what's your Semblance?" Ruby asked. Naruto thought for a second. The Rasengan was called a jutsu by everyone, so that was one. There was also the Shadow Clones, so that was another. Would Sage Mode be called a jutsu? Probably not. Oh, but Summoning Jutsu. Although… That one didn't exactly work right now. Were there any others? He tried to think, but the only one that came to mind was the Giant Rasengan, which wasn't exactly much different from the Rasengan. Oh, of course! The Rasenshuriken! Even if it was a little dangerous. And of course, his most dangerous weapon… The Sexy Jutsu.

As he thought, they got to the ballroom, and Yang dragged Ruby off to the girl's side of the room, even though she was still waiting for Naruto's answer. Naruto was so lost in thought he didn't even notice. At least, until he blinked and noticed that they were gone. He looked around and noticed them on the other side of the room. He was about to make his way over to them before he noticed that the room was split down the middle, boys on one side and girls on the other. Reluctantly, he made his way over to an empty bag on the boy's side.

He wound up next to some of the only normal people he'd seen so far in this world. He looked around at everyone, realizing something that he hadn't considered. He'd sort of assumed that everyone in this world was like veteran shinobi, hardened from battle and used to fighting the Grimm all the time. But everyone here looked like they were excited to be here and having fun. Not exactly something he expected out people who knew that they could die in their line of work. Even more than that, they were all older than he was when he became a ninja. From what Oobleck told him, students at Beacon started off at 17.

He sighed, laying down on his sleeping bag. Maybe they had been doing it wrong back home? Or maybe back home they were just always scared of other villages attacking… Yeah, maybe that was it. And maybe, in this world, it was just that the Grimm were so weak that they didn't warrant training child soldiers. After all, Naruto had taken them on with no issue despite never even having fought them before.

He closed his eyes, thinking that he could get some sleep for tomorrow.

* * *

Naruto finished up his stretching, although he had barely paid attention to what Ozpin had said. Something about relics and a temple. Got it, he was ready to go. So how come they had to wait on these metal platforms?

His answer came in the form of an exaggerated cheer coming from further down the long line of students. As he watched, he saw a girl with orange hair go flying into the air, the platform she had been on now perpendicular with the ground. Oh, so they were getting launched. Well that idea was simple enough. Maybe that was that 'landing strategy' thing that Ozpin had mentioned, some sort of test to land and not die. Hm… If he had to stand still for a while anyway…

Down and down the line the launching went, eventually reaching the brown haired boy next to Naruto. Just as Mr. Brown Hair went flying, small orange markings appeared around Naruto's eyes. _'That's odd… This feels a lot different than on my own world. Is it because of the difference in worlds or something?'_ Naruto shrugged and opened his eyes, just in time to see himself being flung off of a cliff. _'WOAH!'_ He let himself fly through the air for a few moments, before flipping over and aiming his feet at the ground.

He hit with impact, not rolling or even trying to slow down his moment. His feet sunk in to the soft ground slightly, and kicked up a lot of dirt around him. He dug his feet out, looking around at his surroundings. The featureless forest reminded him a lot of his first few minutes on this world. He heard whooping over him, and when he looked up he could see Yang blasting her way through the air with explosions seemingly coming from her wrists.

Then he noticed something was off. He couldn't sense anyone's chakra. Not in the forest, where there should have been students, and not up on the cliff, where there should have been teachers, and not anywhere in the air, where he just saw Yang. Had something happened, he wondered? Or was it the difference in the world's Nature Energy? Or… He hesitated to entertain the idea, but it would hardly have been the strangest thing to happen in the last week. Maybe, he thought, when people talked about their Aura, they actually did mean something different than chakra. Which would mean… Semblances were different too?

Even just the idea felt weird, though. How could you just not have chakra? Everyone had chakra. Even Bushy Brows had chakra, and he couldn't even use jutsus. Maybe it _was_ just the difference in the world's energy… But that also seemed like an odd assumption, when everything else felt normal.

However, Naruto, getting lost in thought, forgot that he was in a forest full of Grimm. He did not, however, forget that Grimm liked to snarl, as the Beowolf that pounced on him from behind did just before it hit him. On instinct, Naruto let the Beowolf roll him just slightly until he was on his feet again, then grabbed the Beowolf and drove it into the ground.

Well, if decapitation could kill these things, then the strength of Sage Mode could too, right? To his surprise, however, the Beowolf started wiggling, digging itself out of the hole. Wow, durable. Weak, but durable. Maybe that was how they managed to give so many problems to the people of this world. He let the Beowolf dig itself out of the hole, then unleashed three punches, one to the gut and two to the face. He was expecting it go flying, but with the full power of Sage Mode used against it twice, the Beowolf's head couldn't handle it, and popped like a cherry. Naruto was rather pleased that Grimm didn't bleed in that moment.

So clearly, he ought to just focus on the task at hand instead on wondering about Aura being different than chakra. He assumed that it was, and that was the end of it. He crouched low, putting his hands on the ground in front of himself in a runner's pose. He pressed off, and flew off through the woods, a burst of wind following in his wake.

He, of course, ran into the issue very quickly of having to maneuver around trees, but he still found himself speeding through the woods incredibly fast. After a few moments, he hadn't seen any more Grimm, or any other students. He took a quick glance to his left to see if he could possibly spot someone through the trees, and promptly slammed into, and then through, a tree. Said tree killed his momentum, and he fell onto his back, holding his face. "Ow, ow, ow… That stings," he complained to himself.

He stood up, rubbing his cheek. "Geez… Stupid trees…" He looked back at the tree he ran through, almost feeling pleased that at least it had toppled. He was almost amazed that he didn't have any splinters. Or, any that he could feel.

It also hadn't escaped his notice that his Sage Mode had run out. After just one minute… Well, that was worrying. Had he gotten rusty? He climbed a non-toppled tree, and began to meditate. Once again, he felt the strangely different energy of this world flow into him. Balancing it with his chakra was no problem, but… Well, but nothing. It felt normal, just like it had before, besides the different feeling of the energy. Maybe it was just more finite? Well that… That wasn't very good. It would be even less use in a fight if he could only use it for a minute.

He shook his head, hoping that it was just a fluke. He had used some chakra against that Beowolf, and hitting that tree had to have taken something out of him right? Yeah, yeah… that was it. He hoped.

He let Sage Mode go, deciding to use his own skills in order to pass this test. It wasn't as though the Grimm were very strong, after all. He dropped down from the tree, right on top of another person. He heard a feminine grunt come from underneath him, and jumped up. "Sorry, sorry!" he apologized. He looked down, and was greeted by a girl with incredibly black hair, wearing a bow on her head and a sword on her back.

"It's no problem… Just look where you're dropping next time," she groaned. She looked up to meet his eyes. "Do you have a partner yet?" He shook his head. "Me neither. I guess that means we're working together. I'm Blake."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he introduced himself, helping her up. "Sorry, again." She waved him off. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Professor Ozpin said that the temple was at the end of the forest, so I was heading away from the cliff. I'm guessing that along the way, we'll find it." She studied his face for a second. "Are those real, or tattoos?" she asked, pointing at his whiskers.

He shook his head, "Neither. If anything they're birthmarks, but they're not actually whiskers." He decided to leave out the part about a demon fox living inside of him that was the cause of them. Somehow, he felt like that wasn't important information right now.

"So, you're not a Faunus then?" she asked.

' _Faunus… Animal people, right?'_ Naruto thought for a moment. When Oobleck first mentioned them, Naruto had thought he was talking about Jinchūriki, so he had been paying attention keenly. "No, I'm human."

"Oh. Ok," she replied. She sounded a little disappointed. Naruto frowned, but didn't ask. "I guess we should get going, then. We don't want to be left behind." Naruto nodded again, and they began to make their way through the woods, at a much more normal pace. "Have you encountered any Grimm?"

"Just one, but I took it out quickly. Have you?"

"I've only seen them, I haven't fought any."

"How come? They seem easy enough to kill."

"I would prefer to not waste the effort. There's no telling what we may face in this test, so I want to conserve my stamina," Blake answered. Naruto nodded sagely. Then he wondered why he was. Grimm were really easy to kill. He doubted anyone would have much trouble as long as they were trained. Sure, he was powerful even among his friends and comrades, but given how easy they were, he was guessing that almost anyone could take them with little issue. They weren't much more than animals, after all.

"I guess I get it," he shrugged. They continued walking in silence for a few minutes, both of them being on the lookout for Grimm. After a little while longer, they came across a clearing, in the middle of which was a circular stone construction or some kind. "Is that the temple?" Naruto asked.

"I think so. Who's that, though?" Blake asked, pointing at a familiar blonde coming out of the woods nearby, being trailed by another familiar person, a girl with red and black hair. Ruby looked like she was positively bouncing with joy. And given how she wanted to be on Yang's team this morning, Naruto could guess why.

"I think that that's Yang and Ruby," Naruto answered. "Hey Yang, Ruby!" he called out to her. They turned and spotted him coming towards them. "How'd did you two end up as partners? Isn't that kind of a huge coincidence? He asked as he closed the distance, Blake just behind him.

"Well, yeah… Or it would be, if Ruby didn't decide that she was gonna do everything she could to follow me through the air," Yang glared sideways at Ruby, who ignored her. "So, now I'm stuck with this little squirt as my partner for the next four years."

Ruby scoffed in faux shock, "You're saying you don't want to be my partner, my dear sister? You hurt me." Yang rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"This is fun and all," Blake interrupted, "But we still have to get a relic and get back."

"Ah, we'll be fine. We're already here, after all," Yang argued. "Oh, yeah, who are you?"

"I'm Blake," she said simply, already headed over to the temple. Yang glanced at Naruto with a brow raised, but he just shrugged and followed her.

Around the small temple, there were a number of pedestals, each one with a chess piece on top of it. "Huh… are these the relics?" Yang asked.

"I guess so," Blake replied, looking around at each of them. "There are two of each."

"And since huntsmen teams are 4 people," Ruby interjected, "I'm guessing that whoever takes the other copy of the one you take becomes your teammates." Yang stared at her. "What? I'm not stupid, you know." Yang kept staring, and Ruby just crossed her arms and looked away.

"So, should we all take the same two pieces then?" Naruto asked, look at the three of them. They looked back and forth between themselves. Blake looked very hesitant, while Yang and Ruby looked like they liked the idea.

"I can get behind that," Yang answered. "How about a cute, little pony?" She walked over to the pedestal with the white knight on it, and picked it up, displaying it for them to see. Naruto nodded, then followed her example, grabbing the other white knight piece.

Just as he picked it up, a scream echoed across the woods. Naruto's eyes shot to his piece, before he turned to his now-teammates and joked, "It wasn't me! I did nothing!" Yang and Ruby laughed, while Blake had her hand on her sword hilt.

"That came from the opposite cliff… I think someone might be in trouble. It's probably Grimm," Blake guessed. Naruto lost his smile, his face turning serious.

"Let's go help them," he ordered. Before anyone could stop him, he started off in the direction of the opposite cliff, where Blake thought the scream came from.

No way was he gonna let anyone fall to the Grimm.

* * *

 **So I know what I said about not being able to update for a bit, but what can I say? It's only the first week on classes. Plus, after I made you guys wait for two and half weeks before, I don't wanna leave you hanging.**

 **This chapter I'm actually ok with. I think it came out as, at the very least, passable.**

 **Now, I wanna clear up some confusion. Some people seem to think that I've already decided that I'm going to give Naruto a sword. I haven't decided on anything like that. I'm not even sure if I'm gonna give him a weapon.**

 **In addition, before I get people telling me 'That Beowolf should have died the first time', consider that apparently, humans were having great trouble beating the Grimm until they found Dust. So, I'm going with the theory that Dust is almost always required to put down Grimm, save for by decapitation and other instantly fatal wounds. Plus, I'm not sure that Grimm have organs or anything. According to the World of Remnant series, they don't have to eat, and they clearly don't have a blood flow.**

 **Now, onto guest reviews:**

 **Guardian of the Inheritance: Thanks.**

 **Nise no kishi: A double edged katana is hardly even a katana. One of the distinguishing features of a katana is its single blade. But, anyway, as I said above, I haven't even decided on giving Naruto a weapon, let alone what kind. As for pairings, I'm not sure I wanna go with Pyrrha just because not many stories feature her. In addition, Naruto never even knew his mom. In fact, I'm pretty sure this Naruto doesn't even know who his mom and dad were. Doesn't he find that out after Pain brings him to 8 tails?**

 **SlyUzumakiVii: Fair enough ya bastard. And thanks, I will.**

 **Guest: I never said I was gonna give Ozpin Sage Mode. Ozpin said he was gonna try to get Sage Mode.**

 **G3neSyS: Thanks, and I hope this satisfies you.**

 **aliestrikehero: I don't think that Naruto ever actually learned how to mold his chakra on to weapons, did he? And, once again, see above notes.**

 **Same Guest: Funnily enough, I had thought about that while I was replying to you, but was too lazy to go look up the number. Anyway, take a look at a picture of the Leaf Village. There are a few establishing shots that show it. If the Hidden Leaf contributed 1/5 of the total ninja in the 4th GNW, then that would be 16,000. The Hidden Leaf doesn't look like it would have 16,000 citizens, let alone ninja. So honestly, I think Kishimoto just didn't consider realistic housing spacing when he wrote that number. Oh well, 16,000 ninja it is. EDIT- After rewatching the Pain Arc, I could more believably see around 20-30 thousand people living in it. But are you gonna tell me that around half of the people in the Leaf Village are ninja?**

 **Guest: Here you go.**

 **jensen6: Thanks, here you go as well.**

 **Avidreaded: I used to use line breaks between everyone's perspectives, and honestly, it just got too messy and full of lines, because there were just many of them. Anyway, I don't remember Sage Mode being nerfed in the** _ **original**_ **story. As for exposition of Sage Mode, there wasn't really anywhere where it would have fit neatly in.**

 **SlyFox9: Again, not even sure that I'm gonna give Naruto a weapon. Also, that suggestion sounds suspiciously like Adam's sword.**

 **Guest: See above. Also, some of the establishing shots of Konoha around the Chunin Exams show that a large part of it is forested, so even if it is 20 kilometers across, a lot of that is uninhabited.**

 **PoisonPen37: Thanks! Here you go!**

 **Rio Skyron: Sorry, bud, but I'm not answering plot questions.**

 **Austinhhh: Here ya go. And thanks.**

 **skeltor: Yeah, I never said Naruto was a slow fighter. I was just debating about sword types with a reviewer. You have a good point with the marks, by the way, but did Kinkaku and Ginkaku seriously have whiskers already? Cause that seems like a big oversight on Kishimoto's part. And I appreciate that you think I would do Blake and Naruto as a pairing justice. As for having a plan, I wanna clear a bit of confusion. It's not that I have no direction for this story. It's just that I don't have a grand plan down to the minute details. I have ideas for where I wanna take the story.**

 **adislt: Well yeah, I believe I remarked on their different styles of combat. I was talking about which one would have an edge in combat.**

 **Jose19: I'm afraid I'm not answering how different this story will be. Also, Naruto may have been trained to kill with no hesitation, but he never really does. He always tries to not kill people. Except for Kakuzu. Fuck that guy.**

 **Batthan the Dark Knight: Well there ya go, that's how she would react. I guess.**

 **Well, that's all. Hope you like the rapid fire updates, everyone. More importantly, I hope that you enjoy the chapters themselves. Once again, I say that I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but I'm going to try to get it out by next Sunday. We'll see if I can get it out before then. That said, I also wanna take some time to try a few writing exercises out to see if I can maybe improve my writing before I continue this story, so it might be a little later than I'm hoping for.**

 **See ya next time, all.**


	6. Chapter 6: New Year

Up on Beacon Cliff, Ozpin was watching Naruto with great interest. Not only was he much faster than almost any huntsman that Ozpin had ever seen, save for himself, that didn't even seem to be his semblance. He had watched as Naruto had created multiple copies of himself in order to fight Grimm. Interesting… He sipped his coffee, watching as Naruto began to rejoin his team, catching back up to them after stopping to dispatch the Beowolves.

Now, he desperately wanted to know where this boy had lived. Perhaps his 'other world' theory had some merit to it after all. Certainly, Ozpin couldn't see even Qrow Branwen being able to beat Naruto in speed, and although many huntsmen could take down a mere five Beowolves, the way Naruto did it left a question: What was his limit? And from that question came another: Could that limit be raised?

Next to him, Glynda was shaking her head, "Those two stepped right into a Deathstalker lair. I would expect better of Ms. Schnee and Ms. Nikos. They were such talented students in their own kingdoms, unbelievable that they could make such a mistake."

"Indeed…" Ozpin muttered, barely registering her words. Naruto and his companions were traveling towards that very cave, where Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee were fighting their hardest against a Deathstalker. Along the way, of course, they had been waylaid by Grimm. That seemed to have barely slowed them down. Astounding, for a sixteen year old.

Still, Ozpin had spotted moments where it became clear that Naruto was a sloppy fighter. Like when he attacked the Grimm's stomach without infusing his weapon with Dust, or when he was using unarmed attacks that were unsupported by any weapons. Clearly, the boy was a novice to fighting Grimm. That, along with the fact that he displayed little knowledge of the different kinds of Grimm when he had first begun learning of them, both lent credence to the idea of Naruto's home being Grimm-free.

And that made him actually want to find a way to reach it, be it world-hopping or finding it on a map.

He wondered, though, why no one like Naruto had ever appeared before. Why no one who claimed they were from another world popped up out of nowhere and began to speak of ninja villages and chakra. Perhaps, Ozpin thought, they had, but elsewhere on Remnant. Perhaps, even, Salem might have one such warrior. But, no, the idea was ridiculous. Salem would never be able to offer the ability to return to their own world. She would never be able to entice someone like Naruto to join her.

However, there was still one question needing answered… Would he make Naruto the leader of his team? Or would he give the role to Ms. Ruby Rose, wielder of the Silver Eyes? Both seemed to get along with their teammates, both- once Ms. Rose unlocked her eyes' abilities- were able to dispatch Grimm with ease, and both seemed at least somewhat intelligent.

Of course, Ms. Rose had something that Naruto lacked: A fierce admiration of the cause of huntsmen and huntresses. So perhaps someone like that would be a better choice. Someone who Ozpin could trust to always work for his side and his agenda. As for Naruto… Well, he was simply too much of an unknown element, even after a week of observation. Today was, after all, the first time Ozpin had seen those strange orange markings around Naruto's eyes. Whatever they were, they had seemed to appear on their own.

Very well, Ozpin decided. He would make Ruby Rose the team's leader, but he'd keep a close eye on Naruto. What other mysteries might the boy be hiding? There was certainly something about his village that the man he had called Pain was after. He hadn't forgotten the pause Naruto had had when he was discussing the event with the headmaster. Whatever this group called the Akatsuki was, whatever agenda their leader had, Ozpin didn't believe for a second that Naruto didn't know what it was.

So, no, he wouldn't make a team leader out of a boy hiding secrets. Ozpin needed to know the team leaders were loyal to him. Of course, that did then leave the issue of the other teams. Most of them had clearly rallied around one person in particular, like Cardin Winchester in that group of four. Perhaps… CDNL? That could work as a name.

He decided to work on that after the initiation. For now, he wanted to observe Naruto in action. He turned his attention back to his scroll, where the live feed was now showing Naruto yelling back and forth with Weiss Schnee. Some sort of squabble? Perhaps he should check on the other students for… five minutes? Yeah, that sounded good.

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe their luck. He and his new friends run halfway across the forest to help out someone who screamed, only to get berated as soon as the fight was over. Naturally, he handled it like a mature and responsible person.

By yelling back at Ms. White Hair, who apparently was some kind of heiress called White Schnee or something according to Blake.

Of course, Schnee didn't take too kindly to that, so she started yelling back, while her partner and Ruby tried to break them up. For the most part, they were successful, but Naruto and Schnee both crossed their arms and turned away from the other angrily. With an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air, Ruby decided to make conversation with Schnee's redheaded partner, "So, uh… What's your name?"

The redhead smiled and waved, "I'm Pyrrha Nikos. Hello!"

Ruby cocked her head at her name, "Have we met? Your name sounds really familiar."

Schnee explained smugly, "Well, of course. She won the Mistral Regional Tournament for four years in a row. She completely trounced her opposition in every fight." Ruby gave a little ooh of wonder, staring back and Pyrrha, who suddenly was looking away at the ground, hand on her arm.

"Well, you know… I just trained hard. It was nothing special," she tried to play it off. Naruto wasn't sure what the Mistral Regional Tournament was, but he knew what tournaments were. He guessed that a regional one was just bigger. So, he supposed that this Pyrrha girl was one of the better fighters here. He glanced at her briefly. She certainly looked ready to fight, as she was one of the only people he had seen in any sort of protective gear. Not that he had room to talk.

On top of that… Even with the bashful attitude, she had an air of confidence about her, like she knew that she could likely beat anyone there, even if she really had to try to do it. Naruto was almost tempted to ask her to fight. But, that would have to wait for another time.

For right now, of course, they had to get back to the cliff. Preferably, without White Schnee complaining all the way back about 'uncoordinated fighting' or whatever it was she had said. Naruto had more been focused on yelling back than listening to her.

"You two still need your relics, right?" Blake asked, holding up the white knight piece. Pyrrha said they did. "We can lead you to where to find them." And like that, the group of four became a party of six, travelling right back in the direction they came.

It didn't take long to travel the same, now-Grimm-free path back to the temple. Once they arrived, the group saw a flash of pink exit the clearing at the far end. Yang asked, "What was that?" To which everyone shrugged and walked up to the temple, stopping and waiting for Pyrrha or Schnee to pick a piece. Schnee was the first to go, making a show of studying each piece, and then simply taking the final white piece that was there, a rook. Naruto glanced around at what pieces were left, and to his surprise, there were only a black rook and a black knight. Other teams must have made it here in their absence, clearly.

"Is this what we need?" Schnee asked, turning to their makeshift group. Everyone nodded in unison. "Then we should probably head back before any more Grimm rear their ugly heads." Once again, everyone nodded in unison, and began to run back through the woods, towards Beacon Cliff, slowly.

On the way, Naruto found himself next to Blake, who was staring at him curiously. He glanced back, and she asked him, "This isn't a good time, so can I ask you something about your Semblance later?"

As she said, it wasn't the best time to explain that whatever she thought was a Semblance wasn't a Semblance at all. So, Naruto nodded, "Sure, once we're back you can ask." She thanked him, and they kept running. There was a noticeable lack of Grimm along the way, like they were either all hiding or were all killed by the initial drop of students.

The students hit the cliff side soon enough, and scaled it with ease. They weren't about to beat Grimm and then let a wall beat them. In little time, they reached the top and found themselves amongst a crowd of other students, some of whom clapped for them. Ozpin was standing close by them, staring, "Well done, all six of you. If you would please give Professor Goodwitch your relics, you may join your classmates in waiting for the last two pairs." Goodwitch stepped up to them and took each of their pieces, depositing them in a small box.

Naruto noticed Ozpin staring at him, and raised a brow at him in response. The headmaster tried to play it off by turning his attention to Ruby and study her the same as he was Naruto, but the ninja made a note that Ozpin was either curious or suspicious of him. It probably wouldn't be good if he was suspicious, so Naruto was going to assume it was just curiosity.

He felt a tug on his sleeve. He glanced at the source, which happened to be Blake, who was motioning with her head away from the crowd. He followed her over a ways, before she turned around to stare at him. She looked him up and down once, "So… Your Semblance. I noticed you made multiple clones of yourself, but you shouted out something about shadow clones before you did. Do-"

Naruto interrupted her, "That's not my Semblance. That's just my Shadow Clone Jutsu." Blake stared at him, her eyebrow creeping up her forehead. He stared back, wondering if what he said was unclear. In the back of his mind, he wondered what his Semblance was, if he even had any. People here made it sound like everyone had one Semblance. Then again, no one here had chakra, so…

"If it creates Shadow Clones, how come they looked like they could make contact with things?" Blake asked.

"Wait, you know what shadow clones are?" Naruto asked. He thought that people here didn't know about jutsus, but he guessed he was wrong.

Blake nodded, "My Semblance is Shadow Clones. I can make a clone and project myself away from where the clone is. But my clones only last for a second, I can only make one at a time, and they aren't solid. How come yours are?"

Huh… That sounded more like the normal Clone Jutsu than the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Still, it was interesting that Blake knew a jutsu when apparently no one else did. Although… How could she use it? He hadn't sensed any other chakra in the forest, just his. Which meant… "How do you use the Clone Jutsu?" he asked, ignoring her question.

She frowned at him, "The Clone Jutsu? I just told you, it's my Semblance, Shadow Clones."

"But it works just like the Clone Jutsu from where I'm from," he replied. Maybe people here didn't even realize that they were using jutsus when they did? But there was still the chakra issue. Maybe it _was_ just an effect of the world's weird Nature Chakra after all, then.

"Well, either way, it's my Semblance. I use it the same way anyone uses theirs," Blake answered.

Naruto frowned. So jutsus were Semblances then? But then how come everyone made it sound like they only had one? This whole 'other world' thing was way too complicated. But as far as Naruto could tell, these people had, for some reason, developed entirely different techniques and energy from his world. What confused him was that they seemed a lot slower than ninja were. He couldn't say much about their strength, though. He hadn't fought against any of them, and the only Grimm he'd fought with them had gone down easily with the collective power of six warriors.

"So what is your Semblance? And if it's not those clones, then how come you're able to create them?" Blake asked.

Her question gave Naruto pause. How did he answer this? Ozpin had specifically told him to tell no one that he was from a different world. Which, weird as the request was, Naruto didn't want to annoy the headmaster, the man who apparently had the resources and connections to get Naruto home.

But then again, did Naruto have a home anymore? He refused to think that the Leaf was just gone, but it had been a week since Pain had attacked it… Not to mention, he'd sort of made up his mind about fighting the Grimm in this world. Additionally, who knew how long it would take Ozpin to find a way back? Maybe Naruto could just tell Blake anyway. But, maybe he should tell Ozpin his hypothesis about the two worlds having different energy?

Naruto shook his head, as if to clear it of thoughts. Right now, he just needed to answer Blake's question. "I don't know what my Semblance is, but those clones are something I learned to do back home, off of a jutsu scroll," Naruto told her. He thought to himself, _'Just keep it simple, and worry about what's happening now.'_

Blake looked like she was trying to frown and raise her eyebrow at him at the same time. She settled for frowning, and followed up by asking him, "So, then how do you actually use it?"

"I use my chakra to make them. It's, uh, well it's hard to explain how exactly," Naruto answered, scratching his head. He wasn't sure how to explain it in a way that made sense, even to him. Especially when he was pretty sure that Blake didn't have chakra anyway. Or anyone here, for that matter.

"Chakra? What is that?" Blake probed. His point exactly.

"It's sort of like Aura?" Naruto guessed. "I tried to explain it yesterday to Ruby and Yang, but, well, Yang just kind of laughed because of how I explained it. So I guess I explained it badly."

Blake nodded slowly, still frowning. "If it's 'sort of like Aura', then that means everyone has it, right?" Naruto scratched his head again, and nodded hesitantly. He didn't want to assume that people here didn't just because of Sage Mode. Especially when Sage Mode already proved to be different in this world. Even still, he wasn't ready to definitively say that Aura and chakra were the same, or that everyone had both, or whatever the case was. "If everyone has it, does that mean that you can teach me how to use it?" Blake was staring very intently at him.

Naruto blinked several times. It wasn't that he couldn't teach jutsus. After all, Konohamaru knew the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Rasengan thanks to him, so he could probably teach someone how to use chakra. But did Blake even have chakra to use? It wasn't like he had one of those jutsus that could transfer chakra, so he wouldn't be able to find out easily if she did or didn't.

He found himself nodded again, despite everything telling him that it was a crazy idea. At worst, he reasoned, he would find out whether or not chakra and Aura were different.

* * *

"Ruby Rose, Naruto Uzumaki, Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna," Ozpin announced. "The four of you collected the White Knight pieces. From this day forth, you shall be known as Team RUBY, led by… Ruby Rose." The young girl looked shocked as everyone clapped for her and her sister hugged her. Naruto grinned, glancing at Ozpin for a second. The headmaster almost looked disappointed. As if-

His train of thought was interrupted by Glynda waving them off the stage. Ozpin rattled off another list of names, "Pyrrha Nikos, Weiss Schnee, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie." But the newly christened Team RUBY wasn't paying attention. Naruto patted Ruby on the pack, congratulating her. Yang made her third joke involving Ruby's name and the team name, while Blake glared sideways at her. Not hostile, just dramatically glaring and shaking her head.

"So, great Leader Ruby of Team RUBY," Yang began. "How are you feeling about the school year?" She pretended to hand Ruby a microphone.

"Well, Yang Xiao Long, I believe that we have the best team ever!" Ruby cheered a little too enthusiastically. Some of the teams around them started staring, as Ruby shrunk down sheepishly. "And, um, the other teams are pretty great, too," she added. Naruto grinned and shook his head.

Time to go back to school, huh?

* * *

 **Woo-hoo, another done. How about that super duper original team name, huh?**

 **I'm gonna tell you guys a secret: I didn't like the last chapter. I thought it was rushed and sloppy. I'm happy with this one, sort of. I think that there are some scenes that maybe can be done better, but I'm not a talented enough writer to write them better.**

 **At the time I'm writing this, I've just watched RWBY: Volume 6, Chapter 12 about an hour ago. I've thoroughly enjoyed Volume 6, barring a few notable scenes. Especially these last few episodes, when the drama has been relegated to a specific place where it works well. I won't go into specifics because of spoilers, but suffice to say, I've been enjoying it. Especially what Blake and Yang did at the end of this episode, for those of you who have seen it.**

 **SPOILERS:**

 **The one thing I haven't liked is Ruby right now. During this fight, she's made multiple plans that keep failing, and yet she still says to Qrow 'I need you to trust me,' before she walks up and faces down the mech. Granted, she had a winning plan, but the main issue is that Qrow just lets her go. He doesn't even try to stop her. Despite that every time during this fight that he's 'trusted her' so far, the plan has failed.**

 **Also, Grimm Godzilla.**

 **SPOILERS DONE**

 **Now, on to guest reviews.**

 **SlyFox9: Well, I believe this chapter has answered your Weiss question. As for the rest of them, just gotta keep reading to find out.**

 **varok: Thanks! I'm hoping that that was a compliment; the only language I speak is English.**

 **avidreaded: Well, I'll take it as a compliment anyway. And like I said, just gotta keep reading to find out. Hope to see you again next time.**

 **Crodog12: I don't think Naruto is a Faunus. He wasn't born half animal because of genealogy, he was born with whisker marks because of the Nine Tails.**

 **aliestrikehero: Yeah, that's the general consensus. I just couldn't remember if Naruto ever actually demonstrated the ability to do that. And also, just gotta keep reading to find out. I'm beginning to think I'll be saying that a lot.**

 **Guest: Yeah, that's a good point. Although, for the Anbu and Root, that is just bases. Even if we assume that all the members live there, which we can see from Sai that they don't, they still have family homes. Anyway, yeah, good discussion.**

 **SlyUzumakiVii: As I've said, I'm not sure about even giving Naruto a weapon. I might have someone force him to get one, but then never have him use it. Also, I'm familiar with a ninjato. It's closer to a chokutō in design, though. As for the wind chakra thing, yeah, I've been told many, many times.**

 **And for pairings, while I enjoy Neo, I can't think of a single reason why she or Cinder would A. Be interested in Naruto (I could just barely see Cinder trying to seduce him onto their side, but only as a last resort), and the other two are options depending on how this story progresses.**

 **Yeah, enjoy your little victory. I'm too lazy to try and find a comparison, not to mention busy this time of year. I feel like senbon are very difficult weapons to use. Although, that said, I taught myself how to accurately and quickly throw playing cards, so who am I to talk?**

 **Rio Skyron: Sorry if I offended, but I made it clear at the beginning that I wasn't going to answer plot questions. And he absolutely is plot related, especially if he does appear.**

 **uchihaNaruto247: I don't wanna make a pairing just to be different. I can't see Neo's motivations in that pairing. Hell, I can't see Naruto's motivation in any of these pairings so far.**

 **Primo4: Yeah, likely. I just couldn't recall if he ever showed the ability to do so.**

 **Golbez4: I had thought so. I knew that the viewers knew about it beforehand, but I wasn't sure about Naruto himself.**

 **Guardian of the Inheritance: Thanks man, I'll try.**

 **Joseph Deluca: Again, I just can't see Neo having a reason to pair up with Naruto. Not to mention, that train fight hasn't happened as of yet.**

 **jjjjj: Yeah, I've been told. Just couldn't remember.**

 **CAV2003: Once again, I don't want to give Naruto jutsus just for comedic relief, especially not with Ozpin as the butt of the joke. Naruto has no reason to suddenly know elemental jutsu.**

 **Yorae Rasnate: I've actually only briefly read about the real Kusanagi. But anyway, my point was specifically about the Katana. Anyway, the whole unplanned plot is something that is both risky and rewarding. It can give a story a sense of stagnation, but at the same time it can prevent the writer from getting tunnel vision. Really, it's only a necessary thing with pre-established characters.**

 **Nise no kishi: Yeah, if Naruto gets a weapon it will likely be a lightweight one, possibly even something like metal knuckles. I don't know, I'll have to see. I'm still on the fence about him even getting a weapon to begin with.**

 **Guest: Thanks. Although, that is probably gonna be the average story length.**

 **Anyway, that's everyone. I tell ya, sometimes I feel like these responses take longer than the chapter itself!**

 **Well, that's all I've got for you guys. See ya next time.**


	7. Chapter 7: Class, of the Classy Sort

"Furthermore, the Vacuo Campaign left several thousands…" Oobleck shot out rapidly, unaware that several of his students were having trouble following along. Naruto was doing his best, but this 'Great War' stuff was just sounding a lot like what he had been taught back in the Ninja Academy, about ninja villages fighting massive wars against each other throughout their history. "Indeed, the real reason is thought to be dangerous weather patterns, as well as…"

It had only been a day since initiation. Everyone had been given dorms, lockers, and uniforms, and they were expected to settle in quite easily. Of course, Ruby had been excited to be sharing a room with Yang and Naruto, while Yang had quite fiercely defended the bed closest to the corner as her own. Blake had just sat down on a bed and started reading, while Naruto had lain back and tried to sleep.

Which led them to their class the next morning, in Oobleck's class. He was going over the founding of Beacon Academy, which for some reason required the retelling of the 'Great War'.

Naruto felt a nudge in his side, and he glanced over to see Ruby doing the nudging. She whispered, "Do you think the King actually did that?" Naruto frowned at her. Damn. He'd been too busy thinking about Konoha to hear what Oobleck had said.

"Um…" Naruto whispered back. "Yes, probably." In a blink, Professor Oobleck was in front of him. Naruto jumped in his seat.

"Do you have something to add, Mr. Uzumaki?" he asked.

"No, no Professor!" Naruto blurted out.

Oobleck scowled, "It's Doctor." He returned his attention to the class, and Naruto let out a breath of relief. "Now, as I was saying, this led to the King…" Naruto glanced at Ruby with narrowed eyes, only for her to act innocent, mock whistling while looking away from him.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, Oobleck's class finally ended. Naruto drudged out the classroom behind his team, hunched over with his arms hanging. "I've never been so stressed by a professor in my life," Naruto groaned.

"Sorry about that, Naruto," Ruby apologized sheepishly. "I didn't mean for him to catch you. Still, that king was like the first huntsman, huh?" She continued, wonder in her voice. "I wonder if it really was just violent weather?"

Yang shrugged, bored. "Probably, lil' sis. Something like 'Ooh, look at that king fighting in the storm! He must be causing it!' Or something like that," she joked. "So anyway, Ruby, what do we have next on our list?"

Ruby pulled out the school-issued scroll they'd all been given the previous night, "It looks like… Oh, we actually don't have a class for a few hours. So, I guess we have some free time to do whatever we want. Hey, guys, what is there to do here for fun?" She turned to her team to ask them. Blake wasn't paying attention, while Yang and Naruto just shrugged. "Well then, there's only one answer!"

"And what is that?" Naruto asked.

Ruby gave a sly grin, "I'm glad you asked, my dear teammate. Ultimate Ninja Death Battle Two!" Naruto perked up briefly at the mention of ninja, then frowned at the weird and over-the-top name.

"I- What?" he asked. Blake had raised a brow at Ruby's suggestion, as well. "Ultimate Ninja… Death Battle?"

"Two!" Ruby repeated. "It's a video game that I can totally beat anyone at, like Yang, for example." Yang glared sideways at her sister.

"You wish, little scamp. How many times have you beaten me again? Go ahead, count them out. Then I'll list the times I've beaten you," Yang challenged.

"Hmph!" Ruby crossed her arms. "You're just jealous of my incredible ability."

Yang rolled her eyes and chuckled, "So, anyway, you guys wanna go and watch me beat Ruby a bunch?"

Blake shook her head, "I wanted to talk to Naruto, actually. What's our next class, and when do we have to be there?" Everyone stared at her for several seconds.

Ruby checked her scroll again, "Looks like…. It's Grimm Studies, and it's at noon. Why, though? How come you wanna talk to Naruto?"

Blake waved her off, "I just wanted to talk to him about some stuff from initiation. Nothing big." She turned to Naruto, "That's not a problem, right?"

Naruto scratched his head, "I guess not, but is it that private?" Blake answered by grabbing his arm and pulling him down a side corridor. "See you guys later," he called to Ruby and Yang.

"We'll see you at Grimm Studies," Blake echoed him. Yang and Ruby both gave confused waves of goodbye.

Blake dragged Naruto along for a minute or two, until they finally stopped in an empty hallway. She turned to him and asked, "Do you remember how you told me yesterday that you could teach me to use that chakra?"

Naruto paused. Seemed like the possibly and probably impossible promise he made was already catching up to him. Oh well, he had said he would train her. He just hoped that if she didn't have it, she was able to take that news well. "Yeah, I remember," he answered.

"So, there are training rooms on the campus somewhere. I think we'll probably get to see them later today, if we have combat class. I was wondering if maybe, this weekend, we could use one of the training rooms to teach me?" she asked, sounding almost hesitant.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, we could do that, I guess. But why not just do it outside?"

Blake glanced sideways, "I, um… Well, I just think it would be better this way, don't you?"

Naruto thought for a moment. He learned to manipulate his chakra outside, in the academy courtyard. Same with the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the tree climbing stuff, too. To him, training was just an outside thing. Especially when that training could get as destructive as his Rasenshuriken training had been. But, as long as it was just simple stuff, it would be fine, right?

But of course, there was a secrecy Blake was going about all this with. She didn't seem to want to talk about this around Ruby or Yang, and something told him that she wanted to do it inside to be away from prying eyes and ears. But why would she care? Was he just being paranoid?

"Yeah, I guess it would be okay to do it inside. We should invite Ruby and Yang, too. That way we can all train together, you know?" Naruto probed. If she really was trying to keep it a secret for some weird reason, this would give it away.

Right on the money. Blake didn't just glance away, she completely faltered for a second when he asked. Only a second, though, to her credit. "Are you sure? It would probably bore them. They both seem less like training types and more like learning-in-combat types."

Naruto shrugged, "I guess. Alright, so, this Saturday?" Blake nodded. Naruto decided that, until he knew why it was the case, he wouldn't try to probe into this secrecy game of hers. For all he knew, it was a really important reason. He didn't want to diminish it just to get an answer out of her. Not to mention, it wasn't as though they were lifelong friends. They met yesterday; she probably wouldn't want to spill her life story to him so easily.

Whatever the case would have been, at his agreement, Blake smiled just a bit, happily saying, "Thanks, Naruto. I'm looking forward to learning."

* * *

Good lord, Naruto had never been so bored in his life. He thought he was prepared for the worst Port had to offer. He was wrong…. He was very wrong.

Fifty minutes. Fifty whole minutes. For Port to talk about his weapon's name, and how it perfectly reflected him as a huntsman, with his bravery, his valor, his tenacity, and his might. And Naruto STILL didn't know the actual name of the weapon, after all of that.

Needless to say, the two hours class covered very little involving actual Grimm. Until, however, Port decided to give a demonstration. "Now, who among you believes you exemplify these traits?" he asked, finishing a short speech about the essence of a true huntsman. Most students just glanced around nervously at their friends, but a few, more interested students paid closer attention to Port and the cage on the classroom floor. Seemed like whoever answered would get to fight.

'I do, Professor!" called Naruto, raising his hand. Since no one else was going to, he figured he could get some practice in. Plus, after almost a full two hours of being sat down, he wanted to stretch out.

"Ho-ho! Naruto, this is a surprise! Come down and prepare yourself!" Port exclaimed, making his way to the cage and waiting. Naruto came down the few rows of seats, and waited opposite from Port and the cage. "Are you ready? Where is your weapon?" Port asked.

Naruto pulled out a kunai, "This is all I've got." There was a chuckle around the room as Naruto answered, along the lines of 'what a pitiful, little knife.' Port himself looked aghast.

"Mr. Uzumaki, surely you must possess a more formidable weapon than that!" Port cried. There was an undertone to his voice that said 'By now.'

Naruto grinned, "Don't worry. Just let them at me."

Port frowned, but raised his axe, "Begin!" He brought the blade down on the lock on the cage, and a boar-like Grimm burst out. This must be one of those Boarbatusk things that Naruto had seen on the boards in this room. Whatever it was called, it wasted no time charging him down. He braced himself, and when it hit him, he rolled over top of it, plunging his knife between armor plates as he did.

Of course, to everyone else, it just looked like he was hit by the Grimm, and there was a collective gasp and a few chuckles around the room. Naruto landed on his feet, whipping around to face the Boarbatusk as it turned. It clearly wasn't bothered by the knife in its back, but perhaps it would make it more difficult for it to maneuver? Whatever it would do, it was pretty clear that this thing was as weak and as tough as its brethren. Slow-moving, too. Oh, well. Naruto had hoped for a little practice, but it looked like he wouldn't be getting it here. Probably best to just kill it and be done.

He pulled out another kunai. He could have waited for the Boarbatusk to charge him again, but he wasn't going to give it the chance. He hurled the kunai across the room in an attempt to stun the Grimm, before charging forward himself. The kunai struck the armor on its head with a loud pang, bouncing off and away. As Naruto drew closer, he caught it in the air and plunged it down through the Grimm's throat.

The Boarbatusk staggered several steps, as if trying to walk off the mortal wound. However, in the end, it began to fall over, dissolving before it even hit the ground. Port roared, "Well done! If I may, however. I noticed you make a few key mistakes, my boy. For example, if your weapon had been coated in Dust, I find it likely that your very first strike would have slain the beast. But there is an important lesson there!" He turned to the class. "Never be content with your current level of skill! Always look to improve yourself. Why, even I still constantly find new ways to fight that I never even considered!"

Naruto scratched his head out of habit, wondering what exactly that Dust stuff was. Oobleck had said it was a weapon used to fight Grimm, back before the school year started. Port had said something similar, in much less detail. However, Naruto hadn't been given any to use himself. From what he had been told, he could buy it in Vale, but he didn't exactly have any money to use. Not to mention, the way Dust was referenced made it sound less like a weapon and more like elemental chakra. And if it was more like elemental chakra, why could he just use his chakra?

Granted, it had been a while, but Asuma had taught him how to manipulate his chakra to coat a weapon. His kunai were a little too frail for the technique, though, as he had discovered back when he was first learning. One stab with them, and the blade would typically rip itself in half. And given that he had no money to get new kunai in _this_ world, he figured he needed to be conservative with the kunai he had. Speaking of which…

As the bell rang and class ended, Naruto went to pick his two kunai up off the classroom floor, only to be blocked by his team. Ruby congratulated him, "That was cool, Naruto, how you grabbed the knife out of the air like that!"

Naruto rubbed his head, "Ah, it was nothing. Just an idea I had on the fly. I didn't even this it was gonna work, since I've stabbed Grimm in the neck before."

"It wouldn't have normally," Blake said. "But a Boarbatusk's neck is one of its few weak points. The one most people attack is the underside."

"It didn't have armor underneath?" Naruto asked. "I wish I knew that. It would have been so much easier to get it that way."

"Yeah, but you got it good with that attack. If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Yang added.

"Team RUBY," Port interrupted, "I have a class coming in soon. If you could please clear out now. It was a very good fight, but you may continue talking about it outside the classroom."

Team RUBY apologized, let Naruto pick up his kunai, and left. Not a few seconds after they were out, Ruby stopped Naruto, "Naruto. You need a real weapon."

Naruto cocked his head at her, confused. "But I already have my kunai and shuriken."

Ruby waved him off, "Yeah, and while the whole ninja loadout thing is really cool and everything, you can't fight Grimm with tiny little weapons like that all the time." Yang and Blake watched in silence, Yang stifling a giggle.

"But I haven't ever had any issues with these," Naruto defended.

"It doesn't matter! Weapons are like a part of you! You, Naruto, need one!" Ruby demanded. Her tone got a little more eager, "If you want, I could help you with it."

Naruto sighed, looking to his other teammates for support. Blake seemed to find the ceiling very interesting all of a sudden, while Yang was trying to keep her laughter held in. She managed to explain, "Ruby's a little bit crazy for weapons. She probably just wants an excuse to make one."

"Hey, that's not true!" Ruby shot. She whispered to herself, "Entirely." Yang raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Whatever! Naruto, lemme help you make a weapon!"

Naruto sighed and shook his head, "Alright, I guess. But just don't go too nuts?"

"Well, duh," Ruby said. "You'll be helping anyway, right? Maybe we could go ahead and work on it this weekend or something?"

Naruto glanced at Blake, who just shrugged. Plenty of time on a weekend, after all. "Sure, why not?" Naruto agreed.

* * *

"In our archives, there was no mention of any such thing as a ninja village or a Land of Fire," Oobleck explained. He was stood in front of Ozpin's desk, while the headmaster himself studied the dark, nighttime grounds of Beacon below. "Based on that alone, I believe that his theory of his world being different to our own is correct."

"But?" Ozpin asked.

"But I also believe that perhaps it may be the case that our archives are incomplete."

"That seems far-fetched, Oobleck." Ozpin turned around to face his subordinate. "Even I've never heard the name before, and I traveled all over the place as a young man."

Oobleck nodded, "Even still, there may be some place that you simply missed, somewhere small and secret."

Ozpin shook his head, "The boy made it sound as though his village and the others around it were very large and very powerful. I doubt that those could be kept a secret. Not to mention, he shows an unbelievable level of precision and skill. While his intelligence might be lacking, based on his lack of Dust use, he makes up for it with power and speed. Wherever he is from, they are capable of training warriors to be that strong at an age younger than any of our students."

"Indeed, Professor Port was singing his praises highly earlier," Oobleck agreed.

"Exactly. That boy is as talented as a professional huntsman, perhaps even more than most." Ozpin sat down, gesturing for Oobleck to do that same. The Doctor complied. "Imagine what we might learn from him, or even better, his home. On that note, did you uncover anything about Nature Energy?"

Oobleck shook his head, "No, I'm afraid not. I assume that the boy mentioned it? Something his people use?"

Ozpin nodded, but said nothing.

"Very well. I shall continue my search through our archives, but I do not expect to find anything new, headmaster."

Ozpin sighed, "That's fine. Even just a hint of the name is fine. If it's really a different world, then we'll need to get Ironwood involved. We'll need Atlas's technology. I'd rather avoid that, if at all possible."

Oobleck nodded, and got up to leave. As the elevator closed behind him, Ozpin pulled up a video on his scroll once again. He watched through one more time. The video playing was a close up of Naruto's face, on Beacon Cliff. Orange markings appeared around the boy's closed eyes, just before the platform he was on sent him flying into the woods.

Naruto was something new, that was all Ozpin could be sure of. Something new that might finally tip the scales in Remnant's favor.

* * *

 **So, that's another one down, one step closer to getting to fun parts! Not that I don't enjoy writing all of these, of course.**

 **Now, before I get to reviews, a quick note: Just because a character thinks something or says something, it doesn't make that an absolute fact. It just makes it the character's thoughts or assumption. And assumptions can be wrong.**

 **Moving on:**

 **OreosAreYummy: While yes, it is fanfiction, you should never arbitrarily decide to give a character a new talent just because. The only change I'm trying to abide by is that Naruto was somehow moved to Remnant. As for your second part, it's a very good idea, but there's a problem with it. Ozpin has the relic locked in a vault that can only be opened by Raven, who has gone rogue. And unless Ozpin demonstrates the ability to open the vaults himself, I'm going to assume only the Maidens can.**

 **prism123: Thanks. I look forward to getting to Naruto and Blake training. As for Jaune, I'm not sure what may have happened to him. See, my reasoning for Weiss being with Pyrrha is that, despite Pyrrha not having met Jaune in this version, due to different circumstances around the arrival of new students, I believe that Pyrrha would still have saved Jaune if she saw him flailing midair. However, if you recall, Weiss was nearby to where Jaune ended up. Pyrrha likely would have wanted to reclaim her weapon. The logic, as follows, is that without being distracted by Ruby, Weiss would have more slowly made her way to where Pyrrha's weapon hit, trying to force herself to be on the same team as Pyrrha, someone she thought to be the best in their class.**

 **Sorry for the rant, but it's a bit of explanation I need for a later review anyway. Now, continuing. Pyrrha retrieves her weapon, and the new partners head out, leaving Jaune alone in the woods. But what would have happened to him? I have to assume that he was either eaten by Grimm, or removed from the exam along with everyone else who had to have failed. There are 3 kinds of chess pieces, not counting King and Queen, which I believe aren't used in the initation, with two colors of piece. Anyway, that means that only 6 teams are available, meaning only 24 students could pass.**

 **This response still isn't done either, good lord. As for Ozpin, while he isn't a bad guy, he does seem to be manipulative in the way of trying to achieve his goal. If you've seen Volume 6, you may recall his reaction to everyone being about to learn the truth of Salem.**

 **Finally done.**

 **SlyFox9: Agreed, interactions were lacking. You weren't even the only person to say that it seemed rushed. And I agree, I think that more time needs to be spent on individual ideas. I hope I've improved that in this chapter, and I will hopefully continue to do so. As for giant Grimm fights, unfortunately there just isn't any tension to be had from that. Naruto's skills are too extreme for Grimm to give much of a challenge. And I don't want to just nerf him into the ground for no reason.**

 **TheSilentFan: I responded to your PM with another PM.**

 **Fuyuriku: There are definitely things that could use more detail, I agree. As for specific, reviews… Well, sorry. But, you could just not read them. And thanks for the corrections.**

 **Ignisha:**

 **SPOILERS**

 **What did you think of the season finale? There were a few things I think could have been improved, such as adding a scene of silence before seeing everyone cheering, but overall I thought it was really good.**

 **SPOILERS END**

 **Please, see my overly long response above to find out what happened to Jaune.**

 **TampaBayMike65: We'll have to see how the characters interact as the story goes on. No pairing is entirely impossible, but no pairing will happen without a good reason.**

 **Archleone: Good god, this is gonna take a while. Oh well. First off, thanks for the review. Now then**

 **See, about the assumptions everything is the same, imagine if someone came to you one day and told you that they saw with their Gertalshtark, which is a word I made up just now. You'd just assume they meant what you see with, eyes. The idea is that both are assuming that there couldn't be any other sort of mystical power, and/or that everyone would have to have what they know as life energy(In Naruto's case, with chakra)**

 **I have to agree with you on the pairing front, especially your points about Naruto's romance life. Blake makes the most sense to me at the moment, with Ruby being a very close second. If you really want, I'll explain my ridiculous reasoning for this next time.**

 **Yeah, even Jiraiya and Kakashi kept secrets from him, even up to keeping the key to the Nine Tails seal from him, something his father intended for him to be given. And personally, I think it would be boring to focus too much on Naruto's improvement in combat on Remnant. He can already dance with the best of them, there's not much he needs to change. Thinking about it now, it may have been more interesting to focus on how awkward Naruto would have to be at normal interaction with people. Not exactly something for a fanfiction, though. At least, if someone did do it, they'd have to be way better than I am to pull it off.**

 **Your next paragraph I'm going to skip, as it gets into spoiler territory.**

 **I think I said as much last time, but I basically am just going for the idea that people around Naruto are forcing a weapon on him, rather than it being something he wants himself.**

 **Brawler Naruto isn't something he has actually been since the original Naruto series. Frog Kata is an actual refined fighting style that he learns, even if it's only used in Sage Mode. As such, I think his fighting style should be more poised than just punching wildly. I still haven't even decided on a specific kind of weapon for him, either. And yeah, it was always gonna be Ruby who made him get one. And probably who made him one.**

 **In reference to your comment on Wind-Chakra-coated kunai, I'm inclined to agree. I read a fic one time that had him fully cut down a tree with one kunai coated in Wind Chakra. And, as I recall, part of how Asuma demonstrated wind chakra to him was by throwing a kunai at a tree, and it definitely didn't cut it down. It just made it pierce deeper. Wind Chakra seems to improve cutting power. In addition, Asuma makes it a point to mention that his knives were made from a special metal used to channel chakra. So, I've taken that a step further in that normal kunai and shuriken are probably pretty frail, being mass-produced and all.**

 **As far as I remember, the only pushy person when it came to Semblances was Blake. Ruby asked offhandedly, but that was it. As for Blake, I'm not sure if it's ever made clear that characters name their Semblances, but I assume they do. And if you hear someone shout out your Semblance's name, you'd probably wonder about that.**

 **It would be weird for everyone to automatically assume that someone is using a power that isn't something they're familiar with, like Dust, Aura, or a Semblance. Ozpin and Port both watched Naruto closely during his fights, enough to see that no Dust was used. Ozpin out of curiosity, and Port because he was teaching a class in which you can apparently bring in live Grimm.**

 **It would probably be interesting to read a story with the perspective on the Schnee family.**

 **Thank you for the review, once again.**

 **aaronduque: As I've said, we'll have to see how the interactions between characters play out.**

 **Rio Skyron: Not to worry. But indeed, after thinking it over, I don't think he will appear. See, originally, the idea behind him was that he was Orochimaru, but he lost his mind after living for so long. Eventually, changing bodies just became second nature to him, and he ended up doing it every few dozen years in order to keep living. And yeah, but what else am I supposed to name them? RNBY? RBNY? RYBN? That last one could actually work. You know, pronounce it like Robin? Or Ribbon? And of course, I have no idea what to call the new Team JNPR. Ideas? I'm probably gonna have Pyrrha be the leader.**

 **Guardian of the Inheritance: Thanks.**

 **SlyUzumakiVii: I enjoy Neo, too. Probably one of my favorite characters, although I don't like that she survived. She fell thousands of feet. Is she Mary Poppins? I guess so.**

 **Guest: I never explicitly said they had Chakra.**

 **uchihaNaruto247: Thanks.**

 **JAYSEN: Thanks.**

 **Wana1: Thanks.**

 **Unwanted Empathy: Yeah, that's probably the best idea. As I've said, whatever pairing happens, it has to happen organically. It can't just exist on the whim of the writer, it has to make sense.**

 **Guest: There is, of course, a question: Why would they have chakra?**

 **avidreaded: There's honestly only one, very specific way that everyone could get chakra on Remnant, and it's not even within grasp yet. If you can guess what it is correctly (You can guess once per chapter), I'll confirm that it's my idea that might, but might not, happen.**

 **Guest: Thanks!**

 **Angry Guest: See above.**

 **And that is it. Some very long reviews this time around, which is great.**

 **Now, no one asked, but I may as well explain. The reason I'm so dedicated to following a logical progression, besides it just making sense, is that the way I improved my writing over the last year and a half is by writing a D &D campaign for my friends. And in that, things always have to proceed logically, I can't just shoehorn something in because I want to. I use the tools I have given myself already to write well, rather than changing things to suit my wants.**

 **Again, no one asked, but I just wanted to explain. Bye now, see y'all next time!**


	8. Chapter 8: School Days

"Remember, class, the most important thing in the midst of combat is surviving," Glynda Goodwitch instructed. "If your Aura ever reaches a critical point, you will begin to suffer physical injury. This is obviously not a desirable state to be in. As such, the first unit of this class will be teaching you all to judge your Aura accurately before engaging in a battle."

For the first time, everyone was actually paying attention. This wasn't some boring, sit-behind-a-desk class, this was Combat. And from what the upperclassmen had said, it was hands-on. Naruto was excited to finally be able to closely watch people in this world fight. During initiation, they hadn't really had much challenge, just a few Grimm that he had dispatched quickly. As such, these peoples' abilities were still mostly a mystery to him.

Clearly, a few people in the class felt similar feelings of wanting to see how good others were. There were some glances to people like Pyrrha Nikos or Weiss Schnee, and Naruto even thought he saw one or two looking in his direction. Maybe because of Grimm Studies yesterday?

"I would like to demonstrate this in a mock match," Glynda announced, drawing Naruto's attention back to her. "If I could have two volunteers."

Naruto glanced around at the few hands that rose. Among the more eager hands, he noticed, was Weiss Schnee. The only other person he knew that raised her hand was Yang, right next to him. Glynda surveyed the room for a few moments, before calling out, "Ms. Schnee, Mr. Winchester, if you would please come down to the fighting stage. You may retrieve your weapons from the locker room beforehand."

Weiss rose from her seat, while a very tall boy across the room also stood. He was wearing full armor, which seemed impractical to Naruto. Then again, maybe this boy was going for durability rather than speed and agility. Although that seemed like an odd decision, one that would only benefit him against human opponents. Wasn't a Grimm's only advantage that they were so durable? But then, Port had talked about how Dust was able to kill them easily. Naruto sighed. If only Port could actually teach a class…

A few minutes later, Weiss and Cardin Winchester were facing each other from across the platform, each with their weapon in hand. Weiss held her rapier in a poised and dignified manner, although she seemed stiff to Naruto. Cardin, by contrast, was very relaxed, but also holding his mace like a baseball bat. At least it was clear who had formal training and who hadn't. Unsure of how that information was useful, Naruto leaned forward to watch the fight.

Yang mumbled, "It's not like it's gonna be that good anyway." Ruby hushed her.

"You're just jealous 'cause they got picked and you didn't," Ruby snickered. Yang huffed.

"If you are both ready," Goodwitch announced, "you may begin."

No sooner had she said it than did Cardin hoist his mace into the air, and slam it down into the stage. A wave of explosions travelled fast towards Weiss, who seemed to be caught off guard and stumbled out of the way. She tried for a moment to get back to the same stance she had before, but Cardin wasn't finished with his attack. He rushed Weiss, bringing his mace around for another powerful strike. Weiss dodged backwards, coming to rest for only a moment.

Then, as if she was a different fighter, she began to glide forwards, arm and rapier outstretched, right into Cardin. The force of the blow knocked the boy back several feet, and clearly angered him. He growled, leaping forward and smashing his mace down onto where Weiss was just seconds before. Once again, she seemed to be gliding along the ground, as if on ice. Naruto looked closer, and he thought he could see seals of some sort on the ground as she travelled. Or at least, they looked a lot like the seals that he had seen.

"Woah…" Ruby muttered. "Is she making those glyphs?"

"She's a Schnee, right?" Yang asked. "Don't they have some weird family Semblance?"

Blake nodded, staring intensely at Weiss, who suddenly seemed less like she was fighting and more like she was gracefully dancing. "Does it seem to you guys like she's never fought before?" Blake asked.

"What? No, no way she hasn't…" Ruby answered uncertainly.

Weiss propelled herself, or more accurately, her rapier, into Cardin's back. There was a noticeable wave of… something over his body. Glynda raised her hand, "That will be enough. As you can see on the screen above me, students," she gestured, "Mr. Winchester's Aura has fallen into a low state, and is being displayed by a red color now. In a tournament style match, this would mean he has lost. It is always important to consider your Aura level, as well as your teammates' Aura, before you decide to attack or defend. In a battle with Grimm, Mr. Winchester would now be Beowolf food.

"Remember, your Aura is your shield against attacks. However, you must also remember that a shield can only be used actively. In the next few classes, we will be going over the basics of manifesting your Aura into a barrier. While I'm sure many of you know this already, this will form the groundwork for the following classes. That is all for today. You are dismissed."

The students slowly milled out of the classroom, all of them excited by the match they'd just watched. Naruto sighed, "Man, how come they couldn't go longer? So what if your Aura is low? Just don't get hit too hard. Besides, he was wearing armor."

Blake joked, "You've never seen what Dust does to metal armor, have you?"

"Nope," Naruto laughed. Blake shook her head in amusement.

"Well, let's put it this way: There's a reason why huntsmen rarely wear heavy armor," she explained.

"So, what does it do?" Ruby asked. "I've never seen it either." Yang nodded in agreement.

"When I saw it happen, the Fire Dust melted the armor completely, and actually set it on fire," Blake answered. "Why do you think we make weapons out of a higher grade metal?"

"Well, actually, there's a few reasons," Ruby answered. "For one thing, it degrades slower, which means-"

"So Naruto," Yang interrupted. Ruby stopped and glared. "Before Ruby goes off on a tirade about weapons, I wanted to ask you, any idea what kinda weapon you're actually gonna get?"

Naruto shrugged, "Not really. I haven't thought about it much. It still doesn't seem all that important."

Ruby said, "Naruto! We talked about why it's important! Those little knives look like they were mass produced! No way can they handle Dust use!"

"Wait, hang on," Naruto shot. "You never said anything like-"

"Plus, weapons show what kind of fighter you are!" Ruby added.

"Really, Ruby?" Yang joked. "Cause I wouldn't expect a giant gardening tool to be useful for fighting quickly."

Ruby stuttered for a second, "W-Well, ok, maybe it doesn't say that much about what kind of fighter you are, but it should at least be something you can pour your heart into making and using!"

"So, how come you're helping me make one then? Doesn't it have to be _my_ heart and soul poured into it?" Naruto asked.

Ruby glanced away, "Uh… Not always? I just, um, wanna help my friend out?" She smiled unconvincingly.

Yang rubbed her sister's head, "Aw, come on, Ruby, just admit it already. You're a little weapon geek."

Ruby blushed and looked away, clearing her throat. "Anyway, we have another class soon, so let's go."

Three of the four students laughing, the team made their way to their next class.

* * *

It was a very dark night. Clouds overhead obscured the stars and the broken moon, and the back alleys and the impoverished and patchwork streets scarcely had any trace of lightposts or business lights. The only lights came from torchlight and warehouses. Or, rather, one particular warehouse.

Inside, amidst the bustling of Faunus in masks and uniforms, there was a human, a man in a white blazer and a dapper bowler hat. Roman Torchwick was waiting, after two hours, for his partner, as he liked to think of her, to show up. Of course, he knew the truth. Cinder was his boss, through and through. She told him to jump, he asked how high.

Not that that meant he wasn't annoyed at how late she was. Two hours had made him short on patience. He waited, still, tapping his cane against the ground irritably. He checked the clock on the wall again, for what must have been the hundredth time. If this meeting was so important, why wasn't she here yet?

Then, he heard the silky voice behind him, "Hello, Roman. I hope you haven't been waiting long."

Torchwick turned, expecting himself to glare at Cinder, and possibly berate her for being so late. All of his anger, however, turned impotent as soon as he laid eyes on her. As usual. He'd worked with the toughest thugs, the roughest criminals, but Cinder gave off an aura of malevolence that none of them at matched. He meekly answered, "No, not at all."

Cinder smirked, stalking up to the opposite side of the table. "Good, good. Now," She paused. "I've been informed that there's a new character of interest around."

Torchwick raised a brow. Character of interest? What did 'of interest' even mean? And interesting how? A difficulty? A boon? "Care to explain?" he asked.

"An associate of mine has told me that an experiment of his failed. But, as a result, he tells me that it accomplished one part of its intended purpose. There someone I want you to keep an eye on, Roman," Cinder commanded. "And make no mistake. You are to do nothing but keep your eye on them."

' _That doesn't explain a thing. An associate of yours? There are more people like you?'_ Torchwick thought. _'And what experiment? What person? Why do they matter? Why did I wait two hours for_ this? _'_

"Who is it?" he asked. Cinder smirked, as if knowing his thoughts.

"A student, over at Beacon Academy."

"What?!" he snapped. "You expect me to watch a student at the Huntsman Academy?"

"Quiet," Cinder ordered. Torchwick stayed silent, but it was clear in his face that he was angry once again. "I expect you to monitor anything this student does whenever you can. I will take care of monitoring them soon enough."

Torchwick shook his head. This was crazy and stupid. Mostly the second one. And she still didn't explain what made this kid so special. "Fine. Just tell me who they are."

* * *

Naruto yawned. The week was almost over, but that didn't stop Port's class from dragging on and on worse than some of the walks he had gone on for old missions. He still couldn't believe how little they got paid to walk across an entire country, then fight some Hidden Mist ninja, then walk back. Naruto smiled, though, at the fond memory. It was the only mission he'd gotten to go on with Sasuke and Sakura together. Even if they were at odds most of it, they still came together in the end. He glanced sideways at his new team. They'd each carved out a little space in his heart and mind over the week, but they still seemed almost like strangers to him.

Not that he didn't like them, of course. Ruby was a little childish and high spirited, which went nicely with Blake's cooler demeanor. Yang was brash and bold, which definitely showed in how she dressed.

The bell rang, and Port stopped midsentence, "Ah, well, guess we'll have to finish that story next time. Remember, students! The weekend is a time to think up new ways to battle the forces of the Grimm!" Although barely students actually listened, there was a collective acknowledgement around the room as they funneled out.

Not long after they got away from the crowd of students leaving, Ruby stepped in front of Naruto, "So… It's the weekend now. Can we start on your weapon?" Naruto glanced at Blake, who mimicked a yawn and nodded.

"Sure thing," Naruto answered. Ruby beamed, grabbing Naruto's hand and pulling him down the hallway. Blake and Yang waved goodbye to the pair as the excited girl pulled Naruto along. "See ya guys later!" he called back.

Very soon, Naruto found himself sat behind a desk in the library with a sizable piece of grid paper over it. Ruby was laying out pencils and rulers, and all sorts of other materials. "So, first we need to decide what sort of fighting style you want to go with. I've noticed you like those knives, so we could start by going off of their design. Could you get one out?" Ruby asked. Naruto obliged her.

Ruby laid it over another piece of paper and traced it. Then she turned it on its side and did it again. She repeated this for each side of the kunai, until every part of it was sketched down. "So, first things first, we need to thin the design a little. The blade is all angular and bad for actually cutting. This is more of a stabbing weapon." Ruby circled the chunky blade with her finger. Naruto blinked. She was really getting into this; she was more focused than he'd seen her all week.

She started sketching a thinner, more ninjato-like blade. "With a design like this," she said. "It would be a different kind of weapon. More for slashing than stabbing, but you _could_ do both." Ruby looked up at Naruto, who was staring at her. She blushed and looked back down. "So, uh, what do you think so far?"

Naruto took a moment to bring himself back into the moment, stuttering an answer, "Oh, uh, yeah, it looks good. But I only use my kunai because Grimm are hard to kill with just my taijutsu."

Ruby cocked her head, "Taijutsu?"

"My hand-to-hand," Naruto explained.

"Ohhh, ok. So you prefer 'taijutsu'? Ruby asked.

Naruto nodded, "There's also something else I can do. It's called Sage Mode, and it makes me way stronger and faster than I am now. I tried it during initiation, and I don't think a weapon would be able to handle how hard I can hit."

Ruby frowned, looking over her sketches. "Stronger and faster, huh? Hm… Well, we could make the weapon out of a sturdier material, but that would make it heavier, unless you wanted to pay a lot of money for some Atlas-made stuff…" she muttered.

"Uh, Ruby?" Ruby's head shot up.

"What?" she asked. "Oh, sorry. Just thinking of ways to make a weapon work. When you say stronger, how much stronger do you mean?"

Naruto thought for a moment. He didn't _actually_ know how much stronger, because he'd never tested the limits. He'd never had the chance to; he'd only known how to use it for two weeks now. But what he did know, "During initiation, I punched a Beowolf in the face so hard that it burst. That's part of why I don't think a weapon could handle it."

Ruby's eyes widened in equal parts impressment and surprise. "That's… That's something. Was that hard punch or just a normal one?" she asked, making notes.

"It was sort of a mix?" Naruto guessed. "It's not easy to describe with Sage Mode, because of the nature energy it uses in all of its techniques."

Ruby frowned, "Nature Energy?"

"Yeah, uh… It's hard to describe that, too, but it's sort of the energy that the world gives off. If you can take it into yourself in exactly the right amount, you enter Sage Mode," Naruto tried to explain. He felt like there was something he was missing, but he couldn't think of it.

Ruby seemed amazed, "Woah…" She shook herself back to focus. "So… Is that your Semblance? It doesn't sound like it is."

Naruto shook his head. "It's something that I was told anyone could learn." Again, he felt like he was missing something. What was it?

"Wait… Anyone?" Ruby asked, leaning forward. "Does that include me?"

Oh, right. Now he remembered. Just when Ruby was getting interested, too. Naruto looked away, "I… I just remembered another part of it. You need to have enough chakra, or the energy will turn you into a stone toad.

Ruby slumped back down, "Oh. Oh, well."

Naruto looked back to her, wondering how to raise her spirits. Well… If he was going to try to train Blake, why not try to help Ruby just a little bit? Even if it was only a morale boost. "But that doesn't mean we can't try!" he blurted out. Ruby looked up, seemingly hopeful. "We just need to be careful, is all." Ruby looked like she wanted to hug him.

"Thanks, Naruto!" she beamed. He smiled back. "Now, back to this weapon. Even if you can't use it in Sage Mode, it would help in normal-you-mode." Naruto nodded. "So, if you want to use 'taijutsu' mainly, we can try making you gauntlets or bracers like Yang's."

Naruto thought for a moment. He hadn't seen Yang in action, but gauntlets didn't really feel like his style. Bracers, on the other hand… "What would the bracers be made out of?" he asked, looking at the sketches Ruby was making. The top of the table was littered with half a dozen papers.

"Well, that depends. We could make them just metal and leather, so that they don't get in the way. Thing is, they'd have to at least sort of go over your hands, so that you could attack with them," Ruby answered. "Otherwise, there's no point in having them. Gloves might be better, but you need a metal capable of withstanding Dust. You could sew Dust into clothes, but that's really hard to do and really rare. Not to mention expensive if you can even learn how to do it.

"On the other hand, sewing Dust into clothes reinforces the clothes, and gives the wearer some defense besides their Aura. Besides that, from what I've read, it also gives the user a little bit of ability to channel the Dust's power on their own. I don't know how that's supposed to work, though."

Naruto blinked again. "So… What?"

"Basically, we're back at square one," Ruby admitted. Naruto nearly fell out of his chair.

"After all that?" he asked, laughing.

Ruby blushed, "What? It's not easy making a weapon. I made mine how I did because of my uncle, but otherwise I would have had no idea what I wanted to make. You say that you usually fight without the knives, but that really limits the options for your weapon types. Metal knuckles don't seem your style, and gauntlets are really clunky unless they're-" she stopped. "Naruto. What about jut making gauntlets just like Yang's? Including the guns on them. That way, your hands are free, but you had more power behind your punches?" The way she presented the idea, Ruby seemed bored by it. As if it was just a fallback that she was being forced to present.

"Uh," Naruto began. "I think Yang might not like the copycat idea, much, right? Maybe we should keep going?" A little light in Ruby's eyes reignited, as she looked back over her designs so far.

"Good idea. Now… Are you sure you won't use a knife? We could make a flexible whip-knife or something that you could wear on your wrist."

"Wait, whip-knife? Like, a whip that's a knife?" Naruto asked.

Ruby nodded, "Sure. Lots of weapons are like that, where they're more than just one kind of weapon. Mine is a sniper rifle and a scythe, my uncle's is a scythe, sword, and shotgun, and so on. Haven't you noticed?"

Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly, "I haven't really been paying attention to weapons." Ruby looked at him like he just murdered someone. "What? I've been more focused on the people using them!" Ruby narrowed her eyes. "Fine, fine. But if that's something you can do, why not just bracers that can extend blades from them or something?"

Ruby looked impressed at the suggestion, then turned her attention to her grid paper, "That's actually a good idea. Not to mention, that would make it easier to stop using the weapon during Sage Mode, and that way you won't risk breaking it… But how to store the blades while they're sheathed? They could rotate, but that would weaken their integrity. Or, we could just keep them flat… Yeah, that works. Not much room in the bracers themselves, though. We'll have to make the blades a little thin, maybe just a quarter-inch… Maybe if we just go for a higher-quality metal, it won't be an issue. But if you ever forget to put them away while you're in Sage Mode… Oh, fine. We'll try it out." She looked back up to Naruto, presenting him with a detailed design of what looked like a leather bracer.

The design was simple enough, just leather wrapped around his wrists. But, on top, there were metal plates that each stored two blade, which according to the sequence Ruby drew, would extend out facing either direction. Ruby had all sorts of notes pointing arrows at different parts, but the one that caught Naruto's eye was 'Blade Launcher(?)'. "Ruby, what's this Blade Launcher thing here?" he asked, pointing.

She turned the paper around, "Oh, that. Just an idea. We don't have to have it if you don't want. The idea is that you can launch the blades using a built in cannon. That way, you have some range with them."

Naruto shook his head, "I'm more of an 'up close' kinda guy when I fight." Ruby nodded, crossing out the note.

"So, you like everything else?" She asked. Naruto nodded. "Good! I'll start working on it as soon as I find out where I can do that." Naruto stumbled in his seat again.

"You mean you don't even know if you can make that here?" he asked, grinning.

"Well, uh… No," Ruby answered sheepishly.

Naruto chuckled and shook his head. "Just too excited about making a new weapon, huh?" Ruby blushed again.

* * *

Ozpin re-read the message from Qrow. 'Brief weird lights in the sky near Atlas. Not Northern Lights. Investigating. Believed to be the Queen's doing, but uncertain."

Short, sweet, to the point, and very worrying. From what Qrow said, it sounded like Salem was making a move on Atlas. If that was so… Ozpin knew that Atlas had a very powerful military, of course. He had fought it years ago. But if Salem focused her efforts on destroying Atlas, then even that powerful, advanced military would eventually fall. And since Atlas provided much of the world's security against the Grimm, it made sense that it would be a target.

On the other hand, Qrow made it clear that he wasn't sure. 'Brief weird lights' was vague, but Qrow compared them to the Northern Lights, which must have meant that they were similar in scale. But what could have caused such a light show to occur? Even if it was Salem, what could she have done that would do that?

It couldn't be… No. He had told Ozpin that They would only return once all the Relics were brought together. And he knew for certain that the Relic at Beacon was safe. He was mostly sure that the Relics at Shade and Haven were safe, as well. So no way could they could have been brought together. No, it must have been something else.

Qrow hadn't sent a picture, though Ozpin wasn't sure why he wouldn't. The only reason why he wouldn't have, Ozpin thought, was that the lights were brief that there was no time to photograph them. But if that was the case, it would hardly have been worth worrying about, right?

Ozpin leaned back in his chair. He was too old for this.

* * *

 **Finished, yet again, with a decent chapter. Not great, but decent. I suppose I shouldn't be satisfied with just decent, but it is 3:16 in the morning, and I am tired. For all I know, it might be better than I expect. I had fun writing it, so that's a good sign. Right now, reviews time. This time, however, I'm gonna try to condense this section a little bit.**

 **Guest: It was just a possibility I brought up. You need not get so hostile about it.**

 **Guest: In the manga and anime, it is referred to as both nature energy and natural chakra.**

 **Tenjou Mitchell: Good to see you're on board. Indeed, pacing is something I need to work on in more than just my writing.**

 **Short note about shinobi speed: If they throw faster than the sound barrier, then every time they did, there would be a massive boom. As it is, there isn't. Kishimoto, as I have said, is not a very good writer. Doesn't do little details like that but wants to have super strong ninja.**

 **I do understand how strong Sage Mode is. It's also arguable that the feat with the Rhino wasn't close to the upper limits, since he seemed to put little effort into performing it.**

 **I just can't see Naruto using a staff, even if he's trained to. As it is, the entire weapon-making section in this chapter, or at least some of it, came straight from my brain. I worked it a little to try and have a bit of character, but I worry I may have failed.**

 **Thanks for the review.**

 **Guest Angry About Naruto Getting a Weapon: Maybe Ruby making him a weapon is a cliché, but it's a cliché for a reason. It makes sense that the self-admitted weapons nerd would want to make sure her friend has a cool weapon.**

 **SlyFox9: That's something I look forward to getting to. Partially, honestly, because people are really getting up in arms about 'Blake having chakra', as though I've explicitly stated that.**

 **Mike Kinkaid: Honestly, I can't even argue with you about the length of this section. However, if you want to read the story and not the reviews, go ahead. You're not going to get a longer chapter just because I completely cut this section out.**

 **Fuyuriku: Thank you for the corrections.**

 **Destiny590, and everyone else complaining: I have never explicitly stated that Blake will have the ability to use chakra. Naruto, at best, has wondered if maybe she does.**

 **Kurai henkan: Read the responses in the last chapter. I discussed it there.**

 **OreosAreYummy: That finale was very good. And, to a degree, the way they won actually felt earned, which hasn't happened in RWBY for a little while.**

 **jjjjj: Agreed. But we'll see.**

 **Right, that's all. And look at that, I kept the responses under 500 words. How about that? Anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter, amigos.**


	9. Chapter 9: Inklings of Chakra

"No, it's more like this energy that you always feel," Naruto tried to explain. "But you don't really notice it until you use it. Try to focus on yourself and how your body feels."

Blake groaned, "I'm trying, but it's just not working. I can't tell what I'm supposed to be feeling for!"

Naruto sighed inwardly. It had been hours, and Blake hadn't even begun to feel her chakra. Assuming she even had chakra to begin with. It was looking more and more like she didn't with each passing minute. But… "Don't give up, Blake! It just takes time. You can do it."

"I'm trying!" she complained. She opened her eyes and glared at him, "But there's nothing special I'm feeling, just my aura." Blake sighed. "Maybe we should just work on this next weekend or something."

Naruto shook his head, "I think we should keep going. You'll get it sooner or later." He decided to voice a question he'd had since Blake had first asked him to teach her, "So, how come you wanna know about using chakra so badly."

Blake looked away hastily. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I just want it so that I can fight Grimm." That answer sounded practiced. And if she didn't want to tell him the actual reason… Well, that could only mean that it was something she knew was wrong, right? Or maybe it was personal. If it was something personal, that would be one thing, but if it was something that was wrong or evil, Naruto didn't think he should keep teaching her.

What to do, then? He didn't want to go back on his word, but Blake was being suspicious with her answers. Oh well… If it came down to it, maybe he could stop whatever evil thing she might try to do. And besides, he'd seen her fight Grimm, so it wasn't like she was entirely lying.

"Aright, back to work then!" Naruto ordered. He, of course, had his own reason for teaching Blake chakra: To see if Sage Mode was screwed up even worse or not.

Blake begrudgingly closed her eyes again. Soon, she let out a shocked gasp, "I feel something!"

"You do?" Naruto asked excitedly. "What does it feel like?"

Blake frowned, "It… It's just my Aura. I thought I had it that time."

Naruto put a hand on her shoulder, and she opened her eyes in surprise. "Don't sweat it. You will get it. I'm sure of it, Blake. It took me years to get to where I am now."

"But where are you know?" Blake asked. Naruto cocked his head and frowned. "I mean, how strong are you, really? You didn't even flinch while you fighting any of those Grimm. Most people, even among students, are nervous when they fight, because they know they could die if they make one wrong step. But you, you just fight like you know you'll win. I've only seen professional huntsmen fight like that."

Naruto rubbed his head, "Well, you know, I trained a lot in my village." Ozpin's rules came back to him, but he couldn't remember anything about not showing off. Just keeping his home a secret.

"Can I see how strong you really are, Naruto?" Blake asked, a touch of confidence creeping into her voice. "Can we fight just for a little bit?"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. He didn't have a big problem with the idea, but why did she want to? Couldn't he just show her? Not to mention, he needed to figure out Sage Mode, so he didn't really want to use it against another person. What if he accidentally hurt her? Nevertheless, he nodded, "Sure, I guess we could."

Blake smiled, "Great! I want to see what your chakra can do."

Only a few minutes later, Blake and Naruto were standing on opposite sides of the training room. Blake called to Naruto, "I'm ready!"

Naruto called back, "I am, too! Let's go!"

Blake took off running at him, switching her sword over to its gun form. Before she could fire off a shot, though, Naruto was right in front of her. He ducked, sweeping a leg under and knocking her off her feet. With a shocked look on her face, Blake flipped away right as Naruto brought his elbow down where he gut should have been. Instead, his elbow passed through a sort of vaporous clone. This must be her Shadow Clone semblance.

He jumped back right as a hail of bullets rained down where he had just been. He landed against the wall and launched himself towards Blake, who used another shadow clone to launch herself upwards, out of his attack. He grinned, making a shadow clone of his own. He jumped off of his clone, but didn't disperse it. Blake looked shocked, even as she tried to slash at Naruto with her sword. He grabbed her arm to stop the swing, then flipped over and used his foot to launch her into the ground.

She hit with great force, even cracking the ground around her. She held up her hand in a gesture of surrender, and both Naruto and his clone stopped in their tracks. Naruto dispersed his clone and walked over to her. "Are you ok?" Naruto asked, crouching next to her.

Blake nodded, groaning in pain all the while. "I didn't expect that… You're way stronger than I expected you would be. Why are you a student here? You could just take the huntsman test as you are."

Naruto looked away, "Just, you know, I think I can get better here." Ozpin's rules, yet again, cropped up in his mind. Besides, he didn't really want to be a huntsman, and he did actually think that Beacon might be a good place to improve his skills. Especially if there was any chance of him ever fighting Pain. Or any of the Akatsuki, for that matter.

"And chakra lets you do all that?" she asked, sitting up.

He nodded, "But I did train for a long time in order to get this strong. You'll get it, too, but don't worry about getting it immediately. Let's just focus on seeing if you can sense your own chakra or not."

' _And for that matter, if you have chakra to begin with,'_ Naruto thought. Well, he lived in hope.

"So, how long did it take you to be able to sense your chakra?" Blake asked, head cocked. Naruto rubbed his head.

As much as it pained him to admit, "A long time. I wasn't very good at anything as a kid." Blake stifled a laugh, even though she looked shocked. "Well, hey, you're still learning!" he countered. "It's difficult."

"Sorry, I just… But, if you used to be so bad, then how are you so strong now? Or are you still weak compared to your village?" Bake asked.

"No, I started getting better a long time ago. I had a good teacher," Naruto trailed off, remembering why Pain made him so angry. "But anyway, let's get back to work." Blake nodded eagerly, standing up and closing her eyes once again.

* * *

"God, I'm starving," Naruto complained. Ruby raised an eyebrow, halfway through a waffle.

She gulped down the last of it and asked "How come? Did you not eat dinner last night?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, I got too into training with Blake. We both missed dinner time. Hey, where are they anyway? I thought they'd be with you."

Ruby shook her head, "Nope, they were still asleep when I woke up. Lazier than cats." She laughed to herself, stabbing a fork into some pancakes. "So they weren't there when you woke up?" Naruto shook his head. "Huh, weird. Maybe they're training or something. Knowing Yang, she's probably just working on her motorcycle or something."

"Yang has a motorcycle?" Naruto asked. Ruby nodded, mouth full of pancake. "Wait, and she brought it to Beacon? They let her do that?"

"Oh, I guess not actually. Never mind then," Ruby corrected, nearly choking on pancakes.

"Huh," Naruto grunted, taking a bite of his own pancakes. They were surprisingly good. Nothing, of course, could beat a bowl of Teuchi's ramen back home, but the food he'd eaten here was made really well.

"Oh well, maybe she's just training with Blake then," Ruby guessed. She set down her fork, pancake still on it. "That reminds me, you said you could show me Sage Mode right? And maybe try to teach me?"

Oh, crap. He forgot he said that. He hadn't even thought about it at the time, he had just wanted to boost her spirits after he flattened them. Well, he had promised, after all. "Yeah, I could show you it sometime. And I guess I could try to teach you, but it's dangerous. If you get it wrong, you'll turn to stone."

"A stone toad, right?" Ruby giggled. "That's really weird, Naruto. Are you sure you're not making that up?"

"No, seriously, you'll turn into an actual stone toad!" Naruto laughed. It _did_ seem odd, saying it out loud.

"Well, anyway," Ruby continued, forcing herself to stop giggling. "Could you show me it later today? Like, maybe we could get a few punch bags or even go to the Emerald Forest."

"Wait, are we allowed to do that?" Naruto asked.

Ruby shrugged, "I dunno. We might as well try though, right? I mean, it's not like they'll expel us for it."

Naruto though back to Ozpin, "No, definitely not. I guess we could go. You need to promise to not get too close once I start fighting. I don't want to hurt you."

"Oh, I won't get in the way," Ruby waved him off. "Besides, I'm pretty quick. I can get out of the way if I need to."

He smirked, "I don't know about that. Sage Mode makes me really fast, after all."

"I bet I can still move in time," Ruby challenged.

"I don't really wanna find out if you're right or not, Ruby. Cause see, if you're not, then I might end up punching way too hard. I'm still trying to figure out Sage Mode, uh, around here," Naruto slipped. Good thing he caught himself in time, he thought.

"Alright, alright. So can we go right after breakfast? I wanna start on this, it sounds really cool!" Ruby exclaimed gleefully. Naruto grinned.

"Sure, I don't mind."

Ruby cheered, pausing just long enough to chew her pancakes. "Oh, and also," She started, washing down the pancakes with milk. "Do you have any money? If you do, we can get your weapons forged in town. I wanted to do it myself, but there's no place here to make weapons. I guess they expect everyone to already have their own."

Naruto shook his head, "I'm flat broke." Ruby stared, slowly inching her fork back to her ever-shrinking pancake pile. "What?" he asked indignantly. "I haven't had any time to make money around here."

"But we all just use lien," Ruby half-stated, half-asked.

'Well, not where I'm from. Back home, we used ryu, and I don't have any lien."

"But aren't you from Mistral? How did you get here if you couldn't pay for a boat or an airship?" Ruby asked.

"I, uh, paid for a boat from my own village," Naruto lied. Damn, Ruby was questioning him a lot!

Ruby blinked, "Uh, ok, I guess that makes sense." She shrugged and chomped down the last of her pancakes with a loud gulp. "So, can everyone in your village do this Sage Mode thing?"

Naruto shook his head, "I was learning it specially."

"Oh, that's cool. Was it hard to learn?" Ruby asked, leaning forward.

"Yeah, it took me a while to start getting the hang of it. I think I trained for something like two weeks before I mastered it, and most of that was just training and sleeping. It's hard to do. You have to be able to sit perfectly still, sense the Natural Energy around you, and be able to pull it into yourself in perfect balance with your chakra," Naruto explained. "And if you pull in too much, you'll turn into a toad." Ruby giggled again. "But if you don't get enough, it won't work at all."

Ruby was practically bouncing in her seat. "Wow," She mumbled. "That sounds like a lot of work. Is it hard to do once you learn it?"

"A little," Naruto admitted. "But as long as I'm sitting still, I can manage it almost anywhere."

"C'mon!" Ruby cried. "Eat faster!" Suddenly, her bouncing in her seat made sense. Naruto looked down at his half-full plate, and picked up his last pancake.

"Just to let you know, Ruby," Naruto started, taking a bite. "Sage Mode does require you to be completely and perfectly still. You can't move a muscle." Ruby stopped twitching.

"Really?" She asked, almost sounding nervous. Naruto nodded, taking another bite to hide his grin. Ruby sighed, looking down. "Well… I believe in myself!" she declared, voice full of determination, as she proudly looked up at him.

Naruto chuckled, swallowing the last of his pancake. He looked down at his full bowl of cereal and his waffles, and suddenly felt much less hungry, and much more curious to see if Ruby could really do it. Sage Mode was extremely hard to do. Not to mention, Ruby would need a good sense of not only Natural Energy, but also her own chakra. And that was even assuming, after yesterday, that people here had chakra. But still, he could at least teach Ruby to sense Nature Energy, right? No harm in doing that.

"You know what? Let's go now," Naruto ordered, standing up and leaving his food behind. Ruby snagged his waffles and stood up with him.

"Hooraph!" she cheered, mouth full of waffle.

* * *

Naruto tried to focus on the odd, almost sickly feeling energy. Taking great care to balance it with his chakra, as he didn't want to screw up the demonstration, he slowly felt the familiar might of Sage Mode spread into him. He stood, opening his eyes and seeing Ruby staring at him curiously. He backed away in surprise, almost backing off the cliff before he caught himself. "Geez, Ruby, don't do that!"

"Sorry, I just think it just looks cool," she admitted. "That's Sage Mode?"

He nodded, "Just watch this." He crouched, setting his hands in a runner's position. He pressed off, and a second later flipped around to dig his heels into the ground in order to stop. The next second, he was back on the cliffside, although admittedly it was closer than before. It looked like a few pieces of dirt on the edge fell.

Ruby was wide-eyed, "Wow… And, I can learn to do that, too?"

Naruto released the energy, leaving Sage Mode, "Yeah. But first things first, Ruby. You need to learn to sense the Natural Energy, and to do that, you need to master sitting completely still."

Ruby pouted, "I know, I know. Is it really as simple as just sitting still?"

"To start off, yes," Naruto confirmed. "Sensing the energy takes a little more effort, but actually drawing it into yourself, especially in balance with your chakra, is the most difficult part."

Ruby nodded as she sat down in the same position Naruto had just been sitting in. He smiled down at her. He was curious if she would be able to sense the Nature Energy. Hell, he wondered if she would even be able to sit still. Although, he managed it, and he wasn't exactly the most patient person himself.

Already, Ruby was twitching. Her knee was bouncing, and her eye was threatening to open. "No movements at all, Ruby," Naruto reminded her. "You have to be completely still."

"I know!" Ruby complained. "I'm trying."

"It's alright," Naruto said. "I'm just reminding you. It will take time to get it down. Just focus."

Ruby nodded again, before returning to how she was sitting before. Naruto sat down across from her, studying her for any movement. It was all minor things, movements everyone always makes. Her arms shaking slightly, her legs twitching as she kept them raised. He was the same way when he started, after all. Sitting still wasn't a hard skill to learn. Hell, even those minor movements didn't need to be completely corrected, just enough so that she could begin to attune herself with nature. He looked past her, down at the forest. This would be a good place to teach her. Nature was in abundance here, after all.

Ruby groaned, slumping down, "This is so boring."

Naruto nodded sagely, "Yes, it is. But remember, you can't sense Nature Energy unless you can sit still. I forgot to mention this part, but the idea of sitting still comes from attuning yourself with nature. And nature is all about stillness." He tried to think of how else the old toad sage had described it to him, but it had simply been too long since he'd heard it.

"Alright, I'll try again," Ruby grumbled. Naruto had to give her credit, at least she could suck it up and try. Ruby, yet again, returned to the meditative position Naruto had shown her.

* * *

Ozpin studied the students through the cameras. Naruto seemed to be watching Ms. Rose as she sat still. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear their conversation, as the camera was too far away, but what he did know is that just a bit ago, right as he checked the cameras around the campus, he had seen an afterimage of Naruto on three of them at once, right before he spotted Naruto on his current camera. He thought he caught a glimpse of the ninja leaving his so-called Sage Mode, but he wasn't sure.

But, assuming he did, did that mean that he was teaching Ms. Rose about it? Ozpin cursed himself for not being more specific with his rules to Naruto. He should have said that the ninja couldn't tell people about his Sage Mode. All he'd said was not to reveal where he was from. Even so, perhaps, Ozpin thought, he might be able to learn Sage Mode through watching this assumed training session. Although, that would likely be unnecessary. He could probably, with the leverage he had, get Naruto to tell him how it worked. From there, he could figure it out himself.

Still, Naruto teaching someone, especially a student, was irritating. It meant more people with access to what Ozpin could tell was an immensely powerful ability. To think, in all of his lives, Ozpin had never even accidentally come across this Sage Mode. Then again, perhaps it required very specific conditions to be met in order to activate.

While he was lost in thought, he heard his scroll go off next to him. When he checked it, he saw it was a message from Qrow. Eager to know what those lights had been, he opened it. As he read it, he became more and more confused, before he finally stood up and stared out to the distance.

The message read: _'Issues with the CCT. My last message was from two weeks ago, give or take a few days. Those lights ended up seeming to be nothing, except for the fact that ever since then, Atlas has been reporting increased Grimm activity. I've checked other locations, and it seems to be the same in Vacuo and Mistral. Haven't been able to check Vale yet for obvious reasons. I'll update you once I learn more.'_

Two weeks… That lined up almost perfectly with Naruto's arrival at Beacon. And now that he thought about it, Ozpin did seem to remember reading in the news that Grimm were getting restless around Vale.

Ozpin remembered that Naruto had been hiding something from him. Something about his village. Or maybe, Ozpin now thought, about himself. But if there was increased Grimm activity everywhere… What could that mean? Were there others from Naruto's village? No, that wouldn't make sense. Why would Grimm care about other almost normal people?

Ozpin returned to his seat, sending a message back to Qrow, _'Investigate mainly the cause of the lights. If possible, find out if they were meteorites or something similar. Inform me instantly if you discover either of these things.'_ As he sent it, he wondered. Was he giving away too much? Was he not telling Qrow enough? Ozpin shook his head. He did what he needed to. And besides, Qrow enjoyed the work. Ozpin knew that much, at least. So, he hoped that Qrow would give the investigation his all.

* * *

"Alright, Neo," Torchwick began. "It's simple enough. Cinder wants us to keep an eye on some kid. His name is Naruto Uzumaki. Apparently, he should be dressed in all orange most of the time, and he'll have bright blond hair. Of course, besides that, Cinder hasn't really given us anything." Neo scowled. The pair rounded the street corner, passing by the burnt out lightposts of the dark backroads.

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, point is, and I'm sorry, I need you for this job." Neo looked up at him, head cocked. "See, there's no way I can go to Beacon. I'd get arrested in a second. So, I need you to become one of the students there. It should be simple enough. Just get rid of one of them, and take their place. I don't really care how to do it. Just, don't get caught, ok?"

Neo nodded, smirking. Her normal clothes transformed into a Beacon uniform, before reverting back to normal. Torchwick smiled, "Right like that, yeah. You might wanna be choosey about who it is. No idea who this kid likes and who he hates, so just try not to pick one of his enemies. No doubt, our oh-so-great queen Cinder wants more than just his activities monitored. She'll probably tell me that they need dirt on him next. I'm counting on you, Neo."

* * *

 **And another one down, another one down, yada yada.**

 **This time, I don't really feel like nor have time for reviews. I'm sure some people will enjoy this. Which is good, because I'm absolutely going to tick some people off next chapter. Or maybe the one after. Or even after that.**

 **Anyway, I'll see you all then.**


	10. Chapter 10: Scheming

"So I was sitting there yesterday, really still," Ruby described, wolfing down her lunch. "And it's really boring. But we were out there for a few hours, so I was getting really good at being a hundred percent still-" Yang snorted. "-but Naruto stood up and said that we were done for the day."

"So… What was the point of that story, Ruby?" Yang asked, stealing one of her sister's sausages.

"Hey!" Ruby tried to use her fork to swipe the sausage back, to no avail. Yang triumphantly devoured it. "Jerk! Anyway, I just wanted to share. I thought my dear, caring sister would like to hear it."

Yang shrugged, "Speaking of Naruto, where is he? I haven't seen him since this morning."

"I dunno," Ruby admitted, trying to inch closer to Yang's plate of food for literal tasty revenge. Yang slid her plate away. "Hmph."

"Nice try, but no one steals my food," Yang joked. Ruby jabbed at her plate with the fork, with no success. As she kept trying, and Yang kept laughing, Blake sat down with them, watching the spectacle they were putting on.

"Did I miss something?" she asked.

"Blake, help me! We must take revenge for my poor, lost sausage," Ruby pleaded. Blake blinked, turning to Yang.

"I stole her sausage and now she's cranky."

"I feel like sitting with you two was a mistake. Anyway, I'm looking for Naruto, have you guys seen him?"

"Huh, that's funny. Yang and I were just talking about the same thing. I bet he's sitting really, really still. He really likes sitting still, trust me," Ruby guessed, giving up her desperate bid for a full lunch.

Yang shook her head, while Blake cocked her own, "Sitting still? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Eh, it was something he was showing me 'cause I asked and didn't give him time to say no."

"Wait, you wanted to see someone sit still? That seems really out of place for you, though," Blake scoffed.

Ruby crossed her arms and looked away, "I'll have you know that I can sit still very well, thank you!" She returned to her own plate, finishing off her breakfast.

Yang stood, having finished her meal. "Well, I'm gonna go and get ready for class later. See you guys," she said, before heading out of the cafeteria. Her teammates waved her off.

Blake turned her attention back to Ruby, "Are they serving seafood today?" Ruby nodded, mouth full of sandwich. Blake excitedly stood and half-ran to the line for food, leaving Ruby by her lonesome.

* * *

Naruto shifted in his seat. He was sitting in Ozpin's office, while the headmaster stared across the desk at him, not speaking for the longest time. He'd been waiting for what felt like hours, which had actually been about five minutes.

Finally, Ozpin spoke, "So, Naruto, I saw yesterday that you seemed to be demonstrating your Sage Mode to Ms. Ruby Rose." Naruto gulped in anticipation. "Now, I'm aware that that doesn't break the rules I gave you, but I must insist that you not do anything like that again. If your Sage Mode is as strong as it seems, then it would be dangerous to allow another student to know of its existence."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Sorry, Professor, but I kinda had to. I sorta accidentally told her that I'd teach her about it, and then she brought it up yesterday, and I couldn't say no at that point."

Ozpin's eye twitched. So Naruto was teaching Ms. Rose about it after all. Well, if it was that easy, then… "I understand, Naruto. Perhaps, then, we could compromise. You may still continue to teach Ms. Rose your Sage Mode, but only if you explain to me how it is meant to work, and any dangers involved."

To Ozpin, this situation, while not entirely ideal, was still incredibly good. Not only would he be able to learn how to use Sage Mode, but a student, a future fighter against Salem and the Grimm, would be able to as well. Not only that, but in combination with her Silver Eyes…

Naruto thought for a moment, before shrugging, "I guess it can't hurt just to tell you." He pulled his legs up into a crisscross position, closing his eyes. Within seconds, the orange marks appeared around his eyes. "First, you need to be able to sit completely still. Then, you need to be able to sense natural energy around you, and then you need to be able to pull it in. If you can balance it just right with your chakra, it creates Nature Chakra, which is way more powerful. But if you take in too much, you start to gain toad-like features, and if you go even further, you turn into a stone toad, and die."

Ozpin nodded along, withholding his doubts. A stone toad? Why on earth would he turn into a stone toad for messing it up? Nevertheless, Naruto spoke without a hint of sarcasm or joking, so he was inclined to believe it.

Naruto dropped Sage Mode, breathing out. "So, that's the danger to it. As well, it only lasts for about five minutes-" He paused, thinking. "Or, actually, it seems like in this world I can only make it last for one minute. And during a battle, you can't sit still to get more nature energy, unless you can get your teammates to distract the enemy." Ozpin nodded, slightly disappointed. It was sounding less useful than he'd thought, after all.

Still, the raw power was definitely there, so it couldn't hurt to attempt to learn it. But, there was one other matter, "Naruto, you say that messing up this technique can lead to death by petrification?" Naruto nodded. "Then may I ask why you still teach it to Ms. Rose? The last thing I want is for my students to be endangered at Beacon itself."

Naruto bowed his head sheepishly, "I couldn't say no, not after promising I would at least try to teach her."

Ozpin frowned, "I see. Perhaps, then, you might consider either taking precautions, or simply not teaching such a dangerous technique to her?"

"I told her it was dangerous to try, but she still wanted to learn it," Naruto admitted. "I won't let her absorb too much nature energy, though. If she starts to get too much, I'll get her to stop."

Ozpin's frown deepened, but he nodded nonetheless. "If you are dead set on this, then very well, I will not try to stop you as long as you take every precaution. But know that if one of my students loses their life, I will hold you responsible. Understood, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded. "Good. In that case, you may go. I didn't mean to keep you for so long, my apologies." As Naruto left, Ozpin let out a sigh. If he'd known it was going to be that easy to learn how to use Sage Mode, he would have asked when he first met Naruto. Oh well, no point in crying over spilled milk. He could just start teaching himself how to use it now. A smile crept onto his face, thinking of how this could change everything. Perhaps this nature energy could even somehow be used to rid Salem of her immortality? But Ozpin knew too little of it to begin guessing at possibilities.

For now, best to just begin mastering Sage Mode.

* * *

"So, did you hear that the Vytal Festival is starting soon?" Yang asked. Naruto and Ruby shook their heads, while Blake kept reading. The team was hanging around their dorm room, late at night, each of them doing their own various things. Naruto and Ruby were apparently just meditating, while Blake read the same book as always. Yang kept trying to get them to start a conversation.

Finally, Ruby poked the bear, "Isn't that the one where all the schools fight?" From her on-the-spot fidgeting, she already knew the answer, and was really excited about it.

Silently, Yang cheered. "Yeah, it only happens every two years. Lucky us, huh?"

Naruto raised his hand in question, "What's the Vytal Festival? I've never heard of it before." Ruby and Yang stared at him, and even Blake raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Have you really never heard of it?" Ruby asked. "It's usually a really big event cause of the tournament between all the schools. Dad never let us go see it, but I got to watch it on TV once. It was so cool to watch the fights!"

Yang nodded in excited agreement, "Yeah, and this year, Vale is hosting it! It's happening later this year. But pretty soon, we're gonna start to see other students start to show up."

"Other students from other academies, right?" Naruto asked. Ruby nodded.

"Yep! They usually end up being older students, with more combat experience, but not always."

That got Naruto's interest. He hadn't considered that he might get to see more experienced fighters in action while he was at Beacon. Then again, it only made sense. Regardless, now he, too, was excited for the Vytal Festival.

Yang added, "There's also a bunch of fun stuff we get to do before that, too, like the actual festival and the big dance." She sighed, "If only it could come sooner." The blonde stared at Naruto, a mischievous look creeping across her face. Naruto instinctively backed up. "I think I'd like to see you dance," she teased.

Naruto shook his head, crossing his arms in an X, "Nope, not happening. I can't dance."

"Wait, really?" asked Ruby, cocking her head. "You don't know how to dance?"

"It wasn't exactly something that we were taught how to do back home," he explained. "We mostly just learned how to fight."

"Mostly?" Yang asked.

"There was some stuff about sneaking around and stuff, too, but I never really paid attention to that, cause I'm just-" he jokingly sniffed, "-so good." Blake stifled a snort. "What? I am!"

"You wear bright orange and have bright blond hair, Naruto. You're not exactly hard to spot," Blake said flatly. Naruto's eye twitched. He was proud of his sneaking abilities, thank you very much.

"That's only if you're looking for ME, instead of a disguise or camouflage," he countered. "I bet I could avoid your detection for days if I wanted."

"I doubt it. But since I don't want to spend hours searching Beacon's campus to find where you decide to hide, you win," Blake relented, bored, before returning to her book.

Naruto crossed his arms, looking frustrated. Ruby and Yang glanced back and forth, Yang giving a small cough.

Finally, Ruby broke the silence, "So… when's that dance gonna be?"

Yang shrugged, "Like three or four months from now."

Naruto frowned, "Wait, it's that far away? I thought you said the Vytal Festival was starting soon."

She nodded, "It is, kinda. It starts to most people once all the students start to show up."

"So, are they gonna join our classes or something?" Naruto asked. Yang thought for a moment, before shrugging.

"I have no idea, but hey, we can just find out when it happens."

"Yeah, I guess so," Naruto conceded, lying down in his bed. "So, Ruby, what classes do we have tomorrow, anyway?"

"Uh, looks like our first one is at ten, that's Professor Goodwitch's class. Then we have Professor Port at noon, and Oobleck at two," Ruby read off, before groaning. "It's gonna be soooo boring."

Yang nodded sagely, "Yeah that sounds awful. Maybe we should just skip the afternoon."

Naruto agreed, "I agree with Yang."

Ruby shook her head dramatically, "No, my dear friends, this is a sacrifice we need to make! For the sake of our learning!" She looked back at her scroll, and her eyes widened. "Oh crap, it's already one in the morning! We need to get to sleep!"

* * *

A few weeks later, and Naruto was finding himself settling comfortably into his current life. He hadn't heard anything from Ozpin about getting back home, but Naruto himself had finally swallowed his pride and visited the library. He spent a long time searching for anything that might have talked about visitors from other worlds, but as he expected, he found nothing. It didn't help that he had no idea what he was even looking for.

In the meantime, though, Ruby had finally managed to fully grasp the idea of sitting still, and Naruto often spend time with her on weekends getting it perfect before they continued. Next time they met, though, he planned to start teaching her about sensing nature energy. That's when the real test would begin.

Blake, on the other hand, hadn't even asked him again about learning how to use chakra. It seemed to Naruto that she was frustrated by the complete lack of results the first time. As far as he knew, though, she was still trying to get it down on her own, though obviously with no success. It didn't help that she didn't know what feeling she was looking for, since Naruto couldn't describe it well either.

As for his whole 'school life' thing, he'd gotten used to going to classes and being bored the whole time. It was like the ninja academy all over again. The only time he really got to be excited for class, just like the rest of the school, was when it was time for combat class. Port droned on and on all day, whereas Oobleck went so far into detail about history that it was a miracle they ever managed to get past one subject.

However, all of that was little more than a passing thought by Naruto, whose new train of thought was 'What does this girl want with me?' He was sitting in the cafeteria, joyfully eating the newly stocked ramen, when a girl with brown hair sat down across from him, without any food. She hadn't said a word for the several minutes she'd been there, just waving once when she first sat down.

"Uh…" Naruto finally said. "Hey?" She smiled, waving at him again. Naruto cocked his head. "Wait, can you not speak?" She nodded. "Oh, that makes more sense. Sorry." He finished his ramen, setting down the now empty bowl. "So what's up?" She pointed at him, then at herself, then made a motion with her hand to imitate talking. "You want to talk with me?" She nodded.

"This is really confusing, sorry. Can you just use a piece of paper or something?" he asked. She rolled her eyes, but held out her hand anyway. It took Naruto a few second to realize what she wanted, but he shrugged, "I don't have any with me." She sighed, beckoning for him to follow.

Soon enough, he found himself with her in the library, with a notebook in front of her. She wrote, 'I wanted to talk to you.'

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I figured. Why though?"

'I just wanted a new friend'

"Oh, uh, ok. What's your name? Mine is Naruto."

'Poli. Nice to meet you Naruto.'

"Same to you, Poli," Naruto returned. He scratched his head. This was a weird conversation. "So, uh, what year are you in?"

'I'm in my first year. What about you?'

"Me too. Man, those classes are boring, huh?"

Poli nodded, 'I think I've seen you in combat class though. How come you don't fight?'

Naruto resisted the urge to look away. Ozpin had told him to never volunteer to fight, since for some reason the headmaster wanted to keep his abilities a secret or something. That, and apparently it would freak people out if they saw he had no Aura. What made it even weirder was how the headmaster kept asking about how to sense nature energy and whatnot. Clearly, he was trying to learn Sage Mode after Naruto had explained it to him.

But anyway, "I just never really feel like it during class, ya know?"

'That's a shame, maybe next time though?'

"Yeah, maybe," Naruto answered sheepishly. This conversation was a little bit too awkward for him. "Anyway, I think I need to go find my team, so I'll see you another time, Poli."

As Naruto walked off, 'Poli' smirked to herself. Neo still needed to find someone to impersonate within the school, but for now, a generic looking disguise would work just fine. But even better was the fact that her target was a complete idiot, apparently, not even bothering to question why a stranger would want to talk to him.

Their short, awkward conversation taught Neo two important thing. The first was that Naruto Uzumaki was very trusting. The second was that he was horrible at lying. Oh yes, Neo was suddenly much more excited about spying on him. So long since she'd gotten to do something this easy!

* * *

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the stranger he saw with Naruto. A girl with brown hair, slightly shorter than the ninja, and who he had never seen before. In other words, not a Beacon student. And since no other schools were scheduled to arrive until the weekend, that left only one possibility.

An intruder.

And, judging by the company she was keeping, she had an interest in the blond ninja. Which had to mean that someone else was aware of Naruto's specialness. In which case, that brown haired girl would need to be questioned, thoroughly.

As he watched though, preparing to head down to intercept her, Naruto walked away, and shortly thereafter, the girl completely disappeared, as if she turned invisible. Ozpin cursed his luck. A spy who could turn invisible? He turned on the camera's infrared, but the spy was already gone. That, or whatever Semblance she was using even allowed her to avoid the infrared camera. Checking on feeds from nearby cameras, Ozpin was inclined to believe the second option.

If the other party was smart enough to use a spy like this, then it probably meant they could be a threat. He couldn't dismiss the possibility that Salem might be involved. And if that was the case, then perhaps those lights really were…

* * *

 **Sorry, all, for the… let's call it an extended break. Nevertheless, I have returned. You can thank the release of the Volume 6 soundtrack for that. Time willing, I'll be posting chapters fairly often, maybe once every week or every other week.**

 **That said, I need to work on the quality of my writing, so it may be slower than I'm hoping.**

 **Until then, I bid you all a fine farewell, and hope that you enjoyed the chapter!**


	11. Short Response

**Hello, dear readers. Sorry, not a new chapter, just a short response because some people apparently don't know how to read. And apologies for any low quality, typing this on my phone and all.**

 **So** **, apparently, I haven't made this clear enough: I never said outright that any RWBY characters would get any Naruto powers. All I've done is have 3 of them have an interest in learning them if they could.**

 **F** **or** **example, Ozpin wants to learn Sage Mode. Why wouldn't he? He's been fighting Salem for presumably centuries, and all of a sudden he sees this super powerful weapon that he could use? Yeah, he'd really want to learn about it.**

 **Blake** **, on the other hand, is hiding from The White Fang and Adam, and in canon constantly agonizes over what they're doing. If she thought she could gain an edge over them, why wouldn't she try?**

 **As for Ruby, she's looked up to huntsmen her whole life. She's practically a fangirl around this point in the canon, and would and did get excited about anything new involving them. At the very least, she'd probably want to hear all about Sage Mode.**

 **Now** **, on a more direct note, if you get oh-so- infuriated reading this story, then why are you still bothering to read it?**

 **Just food for thought. Anyway, I'll see you all soon.**


	12. Chapter 12: Rule Breaker

Glynda Goodwitch looked up at the assembled class of students, both of Beacon and of other schools. She noticed several who were talking with their friends and teammates. It wasn't hard to guess why; it was the same every year. Gossiping about students from other schools. But that could wait, "Attention, class." Immediately, all the Beacon students shut up, turning their full attentions' to Professor Goodwitch. The rest of the schools were slower to do so. "I'd like to welcome our transfer students," Goodwitch began, after the class finally quieted, "By giving them a demonstration of what you all have learned in your time here at Beacon. Are there any volunteers for a combat exercise?"

Around the class, multiple hands shot up, three of which were from Team RUBY. Naruto, Yang, and Ruby each wanted to finally get up and stretch after several hours of Port and Oobleck. Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee of Team PRWN (Prune) also raised their hands, and a few other people Naruto hadn't even met. That Cardin boy hadn't raised his hand since their first day, Naruto noticed.

Looking at the crowd, Glynda's eyes rested on Naruto for a moment, an eyebrow raised at him. She seemed to think for a moment, before sighing. "How about Naruto Uzumaki and Pyrrha Nikos?"

Ozpin may have told Naruto to never fight during class, but he was so bored with just watching all the time. Especially after talking to that one mute girl. He wanted to actually fight! So, with a spark of his childhood, rule-breaking self, he had raised his hand eagerly. And since he'd never volunteered to fight before, he had no doubt that he would get picked.

He and Pyrrha made their way down to the prep room, where they shed their school uniforms in exchange for more practical outfits for fighting. Besides, Naruto thought, you really couldn't beat a good, bright orange jumpsuit.

Soon enough, he and Pyrrha stood at opposite ends of the stage, waiting. Goodwitch approached Naruto, "May I see your scroll, Mr. Uzumaki? It seems to be having trouble detecting your Aura." She pointed up at the overhead display, where, true enough, Naruto's aura was displaying zero. Naruto handed over his scroll. After a moment of looking through it, Goodwitch raised an eyebrow, "It seems to be set up correctly. Perhaps it is malfunctioning. In that case, for the purposes of this exercise, you will both instead stop when I say to. Understood?" She looked sternly from Pyrrha to Naruto, both of whom nodded. "Very good." She stepped off the stage. "You may begin!"

Naruto took off like a bullet, whipping out a kunai as he ran and chucking it right at Pyrrha. Pyrrha raised her shield just in time to block it, only for Naruto to use her shield as a springboard to jump up in the air, knocking her to her knees in the process. She rolled forward as Naruto came down with a powerful knee into the ground where she had just kneeled. It even cracked the stage beneath it. Pyrrha whipped around with a swipe from her sword, only for Naruto to narrowly duck the attack, responding in kind with a sweep from his leg underneath her, knocking her over. She took the fall with grace, using her shield to regain her balance just in time to flip backwards out of the way of a punch.

As she flipped, Pyrrha fired three shots from her gun, which Naruto deflected with another kunai, although the poor knife chipped and broke after the third. Aiming at where she was going to land, Naruto chucking the broken hilt. Pyrrha landed on it, slipping backwards, just long enough for Naruto to drive his elbow into her gut. She wheezed. On her retaliatory sword strike, Naruto noticed that her movements were suddenly much less refined, as if he injured something on the inside.

Nevertheless, he blocked the sword with a kunai. Pushing the sword away, he went for a slash at Pyrrha's leg, but he felt the kunai suddenly get heavier. He jumped backwards, landing in a crouch. Pyrrha regained her footing, her breath, and her composure. A quick glance at his knife revealed nothing out of the ordinary, so whatever just happened was probably the result of something Pyrrha did. Probably, if Naruto had learned anything in his time here, a result of her semblance. Maybe something with gravity? No, why wouldn't she have stopped him before then? It had to be something about his kunai then. Whatever the specifics were, he could worry about later.

Pyrrha rushed in, lance at the ready, prepared to jab at him from a distance. On the first jab, Naruto grabbed the lance and yanked, pulling Pyrrha into his knee. She clutched her gut and stumbled back, and as she did Naruto heard Goodwitch call out, "Stop!" The professor stepped between the two, giving each of them an approving nod. "That was very good, both of you. Mr. Uzumaki, perhaps you should participate in class more often." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, grinning. "Ms. Nikos, are you alright?"

Pyrrha, after several moments, managed to stand back up to her full height and nod her head, "Yes, professor."

Goodwitch looked back up at the students above, almost all of which had been enthralled by the fight, "In just a few months since they started here, these students have developed their existing talents to such a degree. I hope that you will all eagerly participate in the future as well. Dismissed!"

* * *

Naruto met up with his teammates out in the hallway, where Yang gave him a firm pat of the back. "It's about time you do a little fighting!" she exclaimed. "Nice work!" Some of the students walking by gave passing glances, especially the ones from Mistral, Pyrrha's home country. "You really should do that more!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, grinning. Ruby gave him an exaggerated thumbs-up, "Nice job!"

"Thanks, guys," Naruto returned.

"It was pretty cool," Blake admitted.

"Hey, Naruto, can we work on that Sage Mode thing again later?" Ruby asked. "I swear, this time I'll find a way to sense that nature energy stuff."

"Sure, but ten lien says you can't do it," Naruto joked.

Ruby narrowed her eyes, "But you don't even have any money."

"Wait, you don't have any money?" Blake asked.

Ruby nodded in his place, "Yeah. I found out when I wanted to go down to Vale and commission him a weapon, but he said he couldn't pay."

Yang gave her sister a sideways glance, "Ruby… You didn't do what I think you did, did you?"

Ruby suddenly seemed to find the walls and ceiling much more interesting than her sister, whistling all the while. Naruto and Blake glanced from Yang to Ruby, confused.

"Ruby…" Yang said sweetly. "Why don't you tell Naruto what you did for him?"

"Uh… Whatever do you mean, Yang?" Ruby began backing away slowly.

"We'll be right back, you two," Yang told her teammates. No sooner had she said it than Ruby took off like a bullet down the hall, with Yang hot on her heels.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked.

"I think I have an idea," Blake answered. "So, what kind of weapon did you two design anyway?"

Naruto shrugged, "It was these gauntlets with blades in them. I kinda forgot about them."

Blake nodded, "And how come you have no money?"

"Where I come from, we use a different kind of money called ryu," Naruto told her as they walked back to their dorm. "I've been meaning to ask, any luck with chakra?" Blake had taken to practicing on her own.

She shook her head, "No luck. Every time I think I finally find it, it's something else. Usually my aura."

"Usually?"

"Well, there was one time when I was really hungry."

Naruto chuckled, "Well, maybe you can use your hunger for jutsus."

Blake shook her head as she laughed, "The mighty stomach grumbling technique! Despair as you face it."

"Legend says none can survive it."

Blake grinned, "I have to admit, you surprised me when you volunteered to fight. I thought you were just really lazy."

Naruto shook his head, "I just really wanted to fight today. I've gotten to watch everyone else go down there a dozen times."

"What, you couldn't?" Blake said, half joking.

"Ozpin said not to. Something about not showing off chakra, I think," Naruto explained. He actually couldn't remember why Ozpin didn't want him to fight during class.

"I guess that makes some sense. But how come Ozpin knows about chakra? I thought it was something your village used."

"I told him about it when I first came here. It's a really long story."

"Maybe you could tell me sometime," Blake said. "So anyway, what was that thing Ruby mentioned? Sage Mode?"

"It's another technique of mine. Ruby thought it was really cool, and I told her I'd teach her. She hasn't had any luck with it yet though." Now that Naruto thought about it, Ozpin hadn't said anything about it recently, either. Maybe it really was beyond people from this world.

"Was that why she was learning to sit still?"

"Yeah. You've got to be completely still in order to sense nature energy. It has something to do with emulating nature, I think." It had been several months since Naruto had first heard about how Sage Mode worked from the toads.

"So, what is nature energy, then?" Blake asked.

"It's sort of like a kind of chakra given off by nature. I think it actually comes from the world itself. That's why it's a lot easier to sense and use in natural places," Naruto explained.

"So it's a kind of chakra then?" Blake asked. "Is that why Ruby can't sense or use it?"

Naruto shrugged, "Maybe." He looked down the hallway behind them, making sure they were alone. "The truth is, Blake, I don't know that anyone here actually has chakra. Ozpin said I shouldn't say anything about this, but I don't want to lie to my friends anymore. Ozpin and I think that I'm from a different world. Back there, no one has any Aura or Semblances. Everyone uses chakra to fight."

Blake raised her eyebrow, "You're from a different world? Like another planet?"

"I don't know. But one day, I was suddenly somewhere that I didn't know, and pretty soon I came across an animal I didn't recognize. That was my first Grimm encounter."

"You didn't have Grimm where you came from?" Blake seemed taken aback. Naruto nodded. "I didn't believe you before, but if you're telling the truth…" The pair arrived back at the dorm. On the other side of the door, they could here yelling, running sounds, and the occasional gun shot. Blake's hand paused an inch from the handle. "Do we want to interrupt this?"

"Will we survive?" Naruto asked.

"Probably, I think."

"Why not then?" Naruto opened the door, to reveal Ruby crouched on the far right bed like a cat ready to bolt, while a glowing Yang stood on the other side of the room.

"It was just a few lien!" Ruby shouted. Naruto shut the door behind himself and Blake. The sisters turned to face them. Both of them immediately stood straight up, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Yang even stopped glowing.

"Hey guys!" Yang said with a seemingly forced smile.

"Uh… Are we getting in the way?" Naruto asked, joking. "We could leave if you-"

"NO!" Ruby blurted out. "I mean, um, no, it's fine, we were just talking about some stuff."

Yang shot her a look, "See, Ruby here thought that since Naruto couldn't pay for his own weapon to be made, she would do him a favor and pay herself. An arm and a leg, I might add."

"It wasn't that much money," Ruby defended.

Naruto frowned at her, "You bought me a weapon?" She nodded. "You didn't have to do that, Ruby. I can fight without one."

"I just really wanted you to have a special weapon. And after watching you fight Pyrrha today, I'm sure of that. The way you just throw those knives carelessly…" Her voice trailed off.

Yang sighed. Naruto stifled a laugh, "It's fine. They're just kunai, they're meant to be expendable."

Ruby huffed, "Why would you use a weapon you don't care about, though?"

"Well we don't exactly use weapons a lot where I'm from."

* * *

Ozpin had too much to worry about for Naruto to start breaking his rules. Especially when all the students from other countries were here. But that could be dealt with later.

For now, he needed to address the man before him. Qrow had come back from his trip to Atlas early, although not of his own accord. Ironwood had brought him to Vale when he himself had come. But Qrow hadn't sauntered off of the airship cockily drinking like normal.

He had been carried off on a stretcher, brought up to the infirmary.

Ironwood had told Ozpin that Qrow had sent him a distress signal weeks prior, and that a few hours later, his search parties had found Qrow bleeding profusely, covered in burns, and half buried in snow. He'd been placed in intensive surgery immediately at Atlas's top medical facility. While his life had been saved, he had yet to wake up. But more disturbing was that he wasn't regenerating his Aura. Or rather, it was all being used up just keeping him alive. It seemed that Qrow's insides were in just as bad shape as his outsides.

That brought Ozpin to the infirmary of Beacon, to see Qrow for himself. Despite his initial vision of Qrow as a useful asset and little more, for Ozpin to call Qrow anything but a friend nowadays would be a lie.

True enough, Qrow was in terrible shape. Bandages covered more of his skin than they didn't, and he looked even paler than usual. It was a wonder he was even alive. If it had been anyone else…

And to that point, Ozpin was bewildered. Qrow was one of the best fighters he'd ever met. Who could have done something like this to him? The burns had to mean either dust or magic, but Salem wouldn't have gone after Qrow specifically, right? And Qrow could probably take a maiden in a fight, if needed. So it couldn't be magic. But Dust made no sense either, since Qrow could probably take most dust users in a fight as well. Even Salem's highest subordinates shouldn't have been able to do something like this to him without getting off just as badly themselves.

Ironwood hadn't been able to find anyone in the area, either, and tracking them would have been impossible with all the snow. So they had absolutely no leads on the mystery attacker, at least until Qrow awoke.

Ozpin had learned a long time ago to not blame himself when his subordinates were wounded, or worse, killed in the field. But seeing Qrow lying broken before him, he couldn't help but wonder if he could have prevented this.

Perhaps, though, he could at least prevent more casualties. Qrow had been investigating those mysterious lights, so his current condition was probably related. He stood to leave, praying that Qrow would heal soon.

Ozpin had work to do.

* * *

 **So it's been a hot minute since the last update. Interestingly, I apparently had this chapter finished months ago, and just never posted it. Anyway, I've been busy with some life stuff, moving up in the world and all.**

 **Hope you all enjoy this chapter, because I can't remember if I did!**

 **Until next time, which should hopefully be very soon**


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